Emerging Europe Economics Update Constitutional Court deals blow to Romania’s fiscal cutbacks This morning’s ruling by the Romanian Constitutional Court against planned cuts to state pensions deals a blow to the government’s austerity programme. While much remains uncertain, it seems unlikely... 25th June 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia outlook strong despite the leadership upheaval International investors should not be concerned by the change of prime minister even though, by Australian standards, the events of this week have been unprecedented. Data on population trends, which... 25th June 2010 · 1 min read
Latin America Economics Focus Colombia: How should Santos build on Uribe’s legacy? Colombia had a relatively ‘good’ crisis but following his victory in Sunday’s election the new President, Juan Manuel Santos, will need to pursue aggressive supply-side reforms to mitigate the threat... 23rd June 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Flash PMIs (Jun.), Ger. & Italian Cons. Conf. (Jul./Jun.) June’s fall in the euro-zone composite PMI index is another sign that the announced austerity measures may be starting to take their toll on the economy. But for the time being at least, the index... 23rd June 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response German Ifo Survey (Jun.) June’s improvement in the German Ifo business survey came as a relief amid evidence elsewhere that troubles in the periphery are starting to damage sentiment in core euro-zone countries. 22nd June 2010 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Russian reforms a small step in the right direction In a speech to the St. Petersburg International Economic Forum this morning, President Medvedev unveiled a series of market-friendly reforms including changes to the capital gains tax regime and a... 18th June 2010 · 1 min read
China Economics Update How many young workers are there? There may be 31 million fewer Chinese aged under 15 than previously thought. If so, the number of young workers will soon be falling rapidly, putting sustained upward pressure on wages. 18th June 2010 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Update Fiscal plans fall well short The manifestos for next month’s Upper House elections published today show a worrying lack of urgency or ambition in their commitments to sort out Japan’s dire public finances. In particular, the... 17th June 2010 · 1 min read
China Economics Update The view from the ground – Q2 2010 China’s businesses and banks are still confident and do not think the economy is overheating, but consumers are unhappy about prices and wages and reluctant to spend. Mortgage demand is down and few... 17th June 2010 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Is Romania on the brink of another political crisis? The Romanian government looks set to scrape through tomorrow’s no-confidence vote, thus averting a fresh political crisis and keeping relations with the IMF on track for now. But with the vote... 14th June 2010 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Update Firms shrug off financial markets’ worries Today’s Business Outlook Survey provides further evidence that Japanese companies are much less worried than the markets appear to be about the damage to economic prospects from the crisis in Europe... 14th June 2010 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Weekly New PM makes a good start We have become a bit more positive about the prospects for real progress on Japan’s public finances following the first week of Naoto Kan’s premiership. Nonetheless, the first real test will come at... 14th June 2010 · 1 min read
Japan Economics Update Japan to take the lead from the UK? The appointment of PM Kan’s cabinet has been accompanied by a flurry of tough rhetoric on the need to bring the public finances under control, echoing the shift of emphasis in this weekend’s G20... 8th June 2010 · 1 min read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Retail Sales (Apr.) & Final PMI (May) April’s drop in euro-zone retail sales brought more worrying evidence of the weakness of the consumer sector even before fiscal tightening really kicks in. 3rd June 2010 · 1 min read
