GlobalSource Partners | Country Insights

The president of the House of Representatives, Eduardo Cunha (PMDB-RJ), announced his formal break from the government and is advocating that the PMDB do the same. During a press conference, he sent a series of messages to the Planalto. The political crisis just wrote another chapter and is point...

Lava Jato Operation

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 15 Jul 2015

Lava Jato in the STF becomes Operation “Politeia” The search and seizure of goods and documents belonging to senators and federal representatives, part of the “Politeia” Operation, a wing of the Lava Jato Operation in the STF, took place this morning and represents a historic mark in national pol...

Politics: Talk but No Action on Crime and Graft

MEXICO · Report · 15 Jul 2015

Executive Summary The governing Revolutionary Institutional Party (PRI) has interpreted its first place finish in last month’s congressional elections as a mandate for pursuing its pre-existing political agenda and a public endorsement of the performance of President Enrique Peña Nieto. In doing ...

Economics: Growth or Stability Dilemma

MEXICO · Report · 14 Jul 2015

Executive Summary The most recent information regarding the evolution of public finance during 2015 (at the end of May) allows us to conclude that officials will have a complicated time administering it for the remainder of the year. Mexico continues to register growing shortfalls in non petroleu...

Inflation and the Labor Market

BRAZIL ECONOMICS · Report · 13 Jul 2015

With the current real interest rate, inflation will decline significantly in 2016. But for the time being, the trend is still upward: in the 12 months through June it stands at 8.89% and the consensus projections for 2105 are a bit higher than 9%. That growth is only partly due to adjustment of a...

Week of July 13

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 13 Jul 2015

The final week of legislative activity before the congressional recess: In the House, the focus is on political reform. The Senate debates the repatriation of resources from overseas to allow for ICMS reform. The government may emit a provisional measure (MP) for companies to pay debts to the fed...

End of Monetary Loosening?

HUNGARY · Forecast · 13 Jul 2015

Executive Summary In H2 2015, Hungarian policy-makers will have to reckon with negative global capital market conditions. Stock markets have reached a mature phase of their bull cycle, characterized by frequent and sizeable corrections, and bond markets have passed their cyclical peak. This envir...

Moments of Definition

BRAZIL ECONOMICS · Report · 13 Jul 2015

Executive Summary The fiscal adjustment has reached a critical moment. To reduce the debt/GDP ratio, Brazil needs higher primary surpluses than promised by the government. Without political support for greater spending cuts, which cannot be restricted only to discretionary spending, the govern...

Cigarettes’ smuggling shooting with political taste

UKRAINE · In Brief · 13 Jul 2015

3 people shot dead and 13 injured in shooting between police and representatives of ultra-right political move “Right Sector” on July 11, in Mukachevo, small town at the Western Ukraine, near 40 km from Hungarian border. This event effectively blew up media and, as a consequence, political life o...

Weekly Tracker: July 12-18

TURKEY · Report · 12 Jul 2015

Executive Summary Long-delayed coalition talks will take start on Monday with a historical meeting between Davutoglu and Kilicdaroglu. The talks are expected to last through July, with final decisions to be made in August. With MHP largely out of the equation, personal trust between AKP and CHP l...

July 10 – The Shanghai Composite and the Keynesian beauty contest

CHINA FINANCIAL · In Brief · 10 Jul 2015 · 3 responses

For months I have been arguing that the most worrying source of volatility in the Chinese stock market was not its speculative nature nor even the unprecedented use of margin. It was the large share of Chinese investors whose strategy was to ride what they believed to be a bubble. This to me is w...

July 10 – A collective decision to rally

CHINA FINANCIAL · In Brief · 10 Jul 2015

With the market up 5.2% by 1 pm, I think the “correction” is over. Analysts have pointed out the many reasons for skepticism, most importantly, I think, that over half of the listed companies have suspended trading in their shares. The full buying power that Beijing can command, plus the return o...

Elections for the President of the Legislative Assembly Unsettles Political Balance

PANAMA · Report · 09 Jul 2015

On July 1, the first-year anniversary of the Varela administration, elections for the new president of the National Assembly (Panama’s legislative branch) took place. The importance of the National Assembly’s Presidency resides in the fact that it sets the legislative agenda, budgets and commitme...

Does size matter?

CHINA FINANCIAL · In Brief · 09 Jul 2015

The Chinese stock market panic is unlikely to trigger a financial crisis in China, but not, as many argue, because of its relatively small size and narrowly dispersed ownership. What matters is that although nationally there are significant mismatches between assets and liabilities among individu...

Why do financial crises happen?

CHINA FINANCIAL · In Brief · 09 Jul 2015

Financial crises are analogous to bank runs. They occur when the liquidity needed to bridge the gaps created by mismatches between assets and liabilities suddenly becomes unavailable. Insolvency by itself is not a sufficient condition, and only leads to a financial crisis when it causes creditors...