Latin America Economics Update Argentina: provincial spending cap positive, but hurdles remain The proposed spending cap on Argentina’s provincial governments is a positive step and could in theory narrow the overall public sector budget deficit by almost 1% of GDP by 2019. However, it’s not... 23rd March 2017 · 1 min read
US Economics Update Does the health care vote threaten Trump’s fiscal stimulus? Thursday’s key House vote on the Republicans’ health care bill has been attracting a lot of attention in the markets amid fears that a defeat would threaten President Donald Trump’s plans for a major... 23rd March 2017 · 1 min read
India Chart Pack Demonetisation impact wearing off The latest economic data for India suggest that the most acute impact from the government’s demonetisation measures has now passed. Both the manufacturing and services PMI readings for February came... 23rd March 2017 · 1 min read
Canada Economics Update Federal budget avoids policy change on uncertain outlook The 2017 Federal budget delivered today, which was largely a wait-and-see budget, is understandable given the highly uncertain outlook on US trade and fiscal policy. Furthermore, the government is... 22nd March 2017 · 1 min read
UK Data Response Consumer Prices & Public Finances (Feb.) February’s CPI figures have increased the chances of an earlier interest rate hike than markets have been expecting. Meanwhile, the fall in public borrowing was in line with the OBR’s new downwardly... 21st March 2017 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Are things finally looking up for Portugal? Portugal’s anti-austerity Government has continued to implement economic reforms and cut its budget deficit, which reduces the risk of sanctions from the EU. But major challenges still lie ahead. 14th March 2017 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Dutch election likely to result in small fiscal boost The PVV’s declining support suggests that is now even less likely to govern after the Dutch election. But the eventual governing parties will still respond to the populists by loosening fiscal policy. 13th March 2017 · 1 min read
UK Economics Weekly Did the Chancellor ease back on the fiscal squeeze? While the Spring Budget has generated a lot of political controversy, it was a fairly dull affair from a macroeconomic perspective. Even if the policy to raise National Insurance Contributions on the... 10th March 2017 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Spring Budget does little to change consumer outlook The measures announced in yesterday’s Spring Budget amounted to little and the big picture is still that fiscal austerity will weigh on households’ spending power over the next few years. Meanwhile... 9th March 2017 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Focus Can Macri fix Argentina’s fiscal mess? With legislative elections due in October, progress in narrowing Argentina’s bulging budget deficit will be slow this year and we expect only a modest fiscal squeeze in 2018-19. More fundamentally... 9th March 2017 · 1 min read
UK Economics Focus Spring Budget 2017: OBR ties Hammond’s hands The Office for Budget Responsibility’s caution on both the economic and fiscal outlook limited the Chancellor’s room for manoeuvre in this last spring Budget. But he still has a little room to loosen... 8th March 2017 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Update Brazil’s pension reforms: five key questions With Brazil returning from carnival, thoughts are shifting back to President Temer’s domestic policy agenda and, in particular, the prospects for planned pensions reform over the coming months that... 8th March 2017 · 1 min read
UK Commercial Property Update Chancellor offers little further help on business rates Hopes that the Chancellor would use today’s Budget to find a way of providing more meaningful relief for those businesses set to see the largest increases in business rates in April, were largely... 8th March 2017 · 1 min read
Africa Economics Update South Africa grants crisis: Edging towards the cliff edge The looming shutdown of South Africa’s social grant system could temporarily cut consumption by about 0.4%-pts of GDP per month. Policymakers will probably be able to fudge a last-minute deal to keep... 8th March 2017 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update UK Budget Checklist This checklist is intended to help clients keep track of the key measures and numbers announced during the Chancellor’s Budget at 12.30pm tomorrow and to provide some instant context. 7th March 2017 · 1 min read
Europe Chart Pack Surveys point to a strong Q1 Survey data for February suggest that euro-zone GDP growth accelerated in Q1 following two healthy quarterly gains of 0.4% in the second half of last year. After February’s rise, the PMI pointed to an... 7th March 2017 · 1 min read
