Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Gulf aid and struggling economy prompts Egypt to cut rates The surprise decision by the Central Bank of Egypt to cut interest rates today was probably triggered by two factors. The first is the influx of aid from the Gulf, which has eased strains in the... 1st August 2013 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Update “Great Deceleration” has long since begun Recent talk of a looming “Great Deceleration” in EM growth has tended to miss the crucial fact that the emerging world has already been slowing for several years. In this Update we summarise five key... 1st August 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Early market optimism in Egypt already starting to fade Egypt’s financial markets initially reacted positively to the ouster of President Morsi at the start of this month. But as the dust has settled and the severity of the political and economic situation... 31st July 2013 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Activity Monitor Glimmers of hope? Our GDP Tracker suggests that after a sharp slowdown at the start of the year, EM growth ticked up in May. Evidence of a possible turnaround is strongest in Emerging Europe, and weakest in Emerging... 26th July 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack Egypt in turmoil (again) Egypt’s “second revolution” has made the outlook for the Arab world’s most populous nation highly uncertain. The economy is already extremely fragile – growth is sluggish, unemployment is high and the... 24th July 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economic Outlook Gulf set to slow as oil boom fades Growth in the Gulf is set to slow over the next couple of years as the past decade’s oil boom starts to fade. At the same time, oil prices are likely to fall too. This is unlikely to pose a serious... 22nd July 2013 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Chart Pack Currency sell-off unlikely to prompt a wave of rate hikes Lingering fears over the impact of a tapering of asset purchases by the US Fed have seen emerging market currencies continue to weaken over the past month – countries with current account deficits... 18th July 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Gulf aid not a long-term solution to Egypt’s problems The aid that Gulf states have granted to Egypt since the ousting of President Morsi should be sufficient to cover the country’s external financing requirement for almost a year. Accordingly, the... 16th July 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Saudi economic growth at its weakest since 2009 The Saudi economy slowed sharply in Q1, recording its weakest rate of growth since 2009. The oil sector was the main drag on growth, while the public sector was the only area where the pace of... 15th July 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update How sustainable is the Gulf’s fiscal splurge? We’ve argued for some time that the Gulf economies should outperform the rest of the MENA region over the next couple of years, in large part thanks to large increases in government spending. But... 11th July 2013 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Trade Monitor EM exporters remain under pressure The latest batch of EM trade data suggests that exporters continue to struggle in the face of slowing demand from their major global trade partners. Moreover, there isn’t much in the forward-looking... 11th July 2013 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Update China’s slowdown: which EMs are most exposed? Last week we published for the first time our forecasts for 2015 GDP growth in China, which put us right at the bottom end of consensus expectations. For the rest of the emerging world, the effects of... 10th July 2013 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economic Outlook The turning tide - life after QE Emerging economies are much better positioned than in the past to withstand policy tightening by the Fed and few are at risk of an immediate crisis. Nonetheless, we are entering a new era for emerging... 8th July 2013 · 1 min read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update The economic implications of Egypt's second revolution It goes without saying that there’s a vast amount of uncertainty about how events will develop in Egypt. But the economy looks more fragile now than at any time since the first Arab Spring revolution... 4th July 2013 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Update The EM winners and losers from the shale revolution There’s a vast amount of uncertainty about the potential for developing countries to follow the US and Canada in exploiting their shale reserves. But if they can, it could turn a large number of... 3rd July 2013 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Update EM PMIs fall again, but Emerging Europe bucks the trend June’s PMIs suggest that the downturn in emerging market manufacturing is gathering pace, with our EM-wide PMI estimate dropping to its lowest level for nearly a year. Producers in Asia and Latin... 2nd July 2013 · 1 min read