China Economics Weekly The upside to China’s wary consumers Household consumption in China remained stubbornly weak in Q2 despite the rapid rebound in GDP. But this isn’t a reason to be overly concerned about the immediate outlook. With fiscal stimulus still... 17th July 2020 · 5 mins read
China Economics Update An uneven recovery, especially within services The detailed breakdown of China’s Q2 GDP data published today raises some questions about the purported speed of the recovery. Generally though, it is consistent with broader evidence of a sharp... 17th July 2020 · 4 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Weekly Budget update to reveal severe deterioration The government’s Budget update on Thursday is set to reveal a marked deterioration in the fiscal accounts, largely due to huge fiscal support measures. Most of that spending is set to expire in... 17th July 2020 · 5 mins read
Capital Daily Policymakers’ actions may boost the euro further this year Failure by EU leaders to approve the Recovery Fund this weekend would probably weigh on the euro in the near term, but we still think that policymakers will eventually reach an agreement and provide... 16th July 2020 · 6 mins read
Europe Economics Update ECB to remain in dovish mode At the press conference following today’s Governing Council meeting, ECB President Christine Lagarde dampened any suggestion that the Bank may not use the full €1.35 trillion in its emergency purchase... 16th July 2020 · 3 mins read
China Data Response GDP (Q2), Activity & Spending (Jun.) After a sharp contraction in Q1, the economy bounced back strongly in Q2, with the level of GDP reaching a new high. What’s more, the monthly activity and spending figures show that growth was still... 16th July 2020 · 3 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Industry weighing on Mexico’s economy The struggles in Mexico’s industrial sector suggests that GDP fell by around 20% q/q in Q2. And the weak prospects for the sector will dampen Mexico’s economic recovery over the coming quarters. 15th July 2020 · 3 mins read
Africa Economics Update Taking stock of Africa’s Covid crisis The number of coronavirus cases has continued to rise sharply in South Africa, making it more likely that the government will tighten containment measures, which would add to reasons to expect a slow... 15th July 2020 · 4 mins read
Japan Economics Update BoJ will keep policy unchanged The Bank of Japan kept policy settings unchanged today as widely anticipated and we think it won’t announce major new measures over the coming months. 15th July 2020 · 3 mins read
Global Economics Update Trackers: US recovery loses pace; euro-zone powers on In general, our Covid Recovery Trackers continued to improve at the end of Q2 and in the first ten days of July. Things are even looking up a bit in Latin America. But the US recovery risks going into... 14th July 2020 · 2 mins read
UK Economics Update OBR’s fiscal warnings can be ignored…for now The Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) today sent a clear message to the government that regardless of the speed of the recovery, the government debt to GDP ratio is on an unsustainable path. Even... 14th July 2020 · 3 mins read
Asia Data Response Singapore GDP (Q2, Advanced) Singapore’s economy contracted by the most on record in Q2, but with many restrictions to economic activity now lifted and strong government support, output is set to rebound over the second half of... 14th July 2020 · 3 mins read
Higher fiscal spending good news for the Bank The government confirmed this week that it is committing a further $58bn to direct spending measures to support the economy, bringing the total direct stimulus to a striking 9.5% of GDP. The... 10th July 2020 · 5 mins read
ECB Watch ECB to take a breather but more support to come We don’t expect any changes to ECB policy next week, but Christine Lagarde is likely to maintain a dovish tone by signalling that policymakers are open to making additional asset purchases and... 9th July 2020 · 7 mins read
Emerging Markets Economics Update What would financial repression look like in EMs? Several EMs in Latin America, as well as South Africa, Nigeria, India and Turkey could use financial repression policies to deal with the legacy of higher public debt burdens resulting from the... 9th July 2020 · 7 mins read
Huge deficit but more spending still to come The government confirmed today that it is allocating additional funds to various COVID-19 related programs that will cause the deficit to widen to $343bn this fiscal year, or 16% of GDP. And with... 8th July 2020 · 3 mins read