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Economics: Headwinds Stiffen as Volatility Builds
MEXICO · Report · 21 Jan 2016

The first weeks of 2016 have been marked by a significant devaluation of the Mexican peso along with a similar erosion of value affecting most of the world’s emerging market currencies. In the retail market, the peso was selling Friday at 18.55 to the dollar, a development that alarmed Mexican au...

Politics: Drug Trade and Policy Post ‘Chapo’
MEXICO · Report · 21 Jan 2016

Politics in Mexico during the first two weeks of 2016 has been dominated by the arrest of drug kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán Loera, and his eventual extradition to stand trial in the United States. This week we will focus our analysis precisely on the consequences his latest arrest will have ...

Has the Economy Reached “Rock Bottom”?
BRAZIL ECONOMICS · Report · 21 Jan 2016

Prompted by reports in the specialized economics/business press, some clients have asked us if there are any signs that the cycle of contracting GDP is nearing its end. We show here that this is not what is shown by the various confidence indicators from FGV, or our leading indicator of GDP. T...

MPC: Back to Square One
TURKEY · Report · 19 Jan 2016

As expected, the Bank has left all interest rates unchanged today (Graph 1), most likely because of heightened volatility in global markets. As we had noted earlier, like in our last Tracker, regardless of what is meant by “simplification”, i.e. whether it is a cut of the O/N lending rate or the ...

Week of January 18
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 18 Jan 2016

With the goal of rekindling her relationship with social movements, President Dilma Rousseff may take part in the World Social Forum. Minister Nelson Barbosa travels to Davos for the World Economic Forum. The Central Bank decides whether to increase the benchmark interest rate (Selic). PMDB leade...

Double-edged Sword
VENEZUELA · Report · 18 Jan 2016

The Economic Emergency Decree is a political operation aimed at preventing the opposition from offering an alternative to Maduro’s political model and policies. Maduro intends to circumvent the "forced cohabitation" with the new opposition-controlled National Assembly by seeking powers to run the...

Economic Activity: More Black Clouds on the Horizon
BRAZIL ECONOMICS · Report · 18 Jan 2016

Each new round of data on economic activity has been bringing new negative surprises. The most recent results are no different, and now the signs are that GDP in 2015 contracted by 4%, with a high probability that this outcome will be repeated in 2016.

A Rating Upgrade in Late 2016?
HUNGARY · Forecast · 18 Jan 2016

Hungary had a successful year in 2015, with robust, though decelerating, GDP growth, zero inflation and a stable currency, combined with growing employment, improving fiscal balance and a massive external income surplus. Supporting external factors were low oil prices, robust growth of foreign de...

Weekly Tracker: January 17-23
TURKEY · Report · 17 Jan 2016

Turkey bombed ISIS targets in Syria and Iraq in retaliation for the Istanbul terror strike, but unless Erdogan decides to take on the fundamentalist terror organization, the outlook for substantive measures is bleak. We expect more terror attacks from ISIS. PKK is about to be defeated in the urba...

Economics: Prospects Mixed, But Lifted by the Recapture of a Drug Kingpin
MEXICO · Report · 14 Jan 2016

Fall indicators have generally been mixed. Several released in December suggested a strengthening economic direction for Mexico, including a slight sequential firming of the leading indicator for October. This was the first positive result from this indicator for 14 months, largely reflecting a f...

​Terror attack in Istanbul: This one is very different
TURKEY · In Brief · 13 Jan 2016

The terror attack, attributed to an ISIS member, entering from Syria, was almost inevitable. The entire media knew and reported that more than 30 ISIS suicide bombers were loose in Turkey. The National Intelligence Agency and police were fully concentrated on catching Gulen operatives and HDP mem...

Another MNB step towards de-sterilization announced today
HUNGARY · In Brief · 12 Jan 2016

Today, the MNB announced that it will discontinue to offer 2-week deposits after April 30, 2016, raise the total volume of interest rate swaps offered at tenders by 20% and further improve the pricing of IRS contracts. The MNB intends to implement the first of the above by gradually reducing the ...

Revised MTP: More Overtly Pro-Growth
TURKEY · Report · 11 Jan 2016

Today the government released the revised Medium-Term Program (MTP) for 2016-18, which, contrary to our expectations, contains some important changes in the macro aggregates, compared to the previous MTP released in October. The details of the general macro framework and central government budget...

Week of January 12
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 11 Jan 2016

President Dilma Rousseff sanctions the repatriation law and the 2016 Union Budget. The Central Bank releases the GDP preview (IBC-Br) for November. On Wednesday, January 13, workers in the air travel sector present a counterproposal in salary negotiations with the airlines. They have been ready t...

Frontal Collision
VENEZUELA · Report · 11 Jan 2016

The new National Assembly was peacefully seated on 5 January 2016 but the risk of surprises hasn’t been wiped out. Maduro’s strategy is to fuel conflict and to preclude the new assembly from legislating and from controlling and auditing the government. It rests on the Supreme Tribunal of Justi...