Emerging Europe Economics Focus What to expect from the next Czech government The Czech parliamentary election that kicks off on Friday looks to be one of the most unpredictable for some time. A victory for the incumbent ANO party would continue the recent trend of loose fiscal... 6th October 2021 · 21 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Update What to make of Sweden’s August GDP shocker? The eye-watering decline in Swedish GDP in August suggests that supply shortages and weakening global growth will continue to take the shine off the impressive rebound in the Swedish economy in late... 6th October 2021 · 2 mins read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Retail Sales (Aug.) August’s euro-zone retail sales data suggest that consumer spending on goods is flatlining. But overall consumption is still likely to have grown fairly strongly in Q3 as spending on services... 6th October 2021 · 2 mins read
UK Commercial Property Data Response IHS Markit/CIPS Construction PMI (Sep.) The further drop in the construction PMI in September suggested that the recovery in construction has faltered amid a severe lack of materials and staff, spiralling costs, and softening demand. 6th October 2021 · 2 mins read
Commodities Chart Pack Gas & coal surge to support other commodity prices Natural gas and coal prices soared in September. In turn, this has raised the output costs of industrial metals, most notably those which are especially energy intensive such as aluminium and steel... 5th October 2021 · 12 mins read
UK Economics MPC to keep feeling the heat from inflation expectations The recent sharp rise in public and market-based measures of inflation expectations has worried the Bank of England. Inflation expectations will probably rise further as actual inflation continues to... 5th October 2021 · 5 mins read
Europe Economics Update Changing HICP weights add to inflation uncertainty Changes to the weights applied to the goods and services in the inflation basket pushed inflation up in January, but since April the new weights have kept the headline rate lower than it would... 5th October 2021 · 3 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update NBR hikes interest rates, further tightening to follow The National Bank of Romania (NBR) raised its policy rate by 25bp to 1.50% at today’s meeting, and the backdrop of rising inflation, large twin deficits and currency weakness means that further rate... 5th October 2021 · 3 mins read
Europe Data Response Euro-zone Final PMIs (Sep.) The PMIs are consistent with the euro-zone’s economic recovery losing some momentum as GDP approaches its pre-pandemic size and as supply shortages take their toll, especially in manufacturing. The... 5th October 2021 · 2 mins read
Europe Economics Update Households’ excess savings continue to build Households continued to accumulate “excess” savings in Q2 this year, with those held as cash and bank deposits equivalent to about 4% of GDP. We do not expect all of this to be spent, but some of it... 4th October 2021 · 4 mins read
Energy Update Oil prices to fall as market returns to surplus in 2022 We expect a gradual normalisation in demand growth and a rebound in supply will start to weigh on oil prices from the fourth quarter. So far this year, growth in demand has outpaced supply, helping... 4th October 2021 · 4 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Data Response Switzerland CPI (Sep.) Inflation is a rare beast in Switzerland at the best of times and the lower-than-expected September print means that we now doubt it will even breach 1% this year. Against this backdrop, the stage is... 4th October 2021 · 2 mins read
Emerging Europe Data Response Turkey Consumer Prices (Sep.) Turkey’s headline inflation rate rose further to 19.6% y/y in September and core inflation partially reversed its recent decline, but political pressure means that the central bank is likely to cut... 4th October 2021 · 3 mins read
Emerging Europe Data Response Russia Activity Data (Aug.) Russia’s hard activity data for August showed that industry has continued to struggle while loose fiscal policy has supported consumer spending. We think that consumer demand should hold up well at... 1st October 2021 · 2 mins read
Emerging Markets Economics Update EM supply constraints mount Although the emerging market manufacturing PMI ticked up last month, EM industry has been undergoing a slowdown for some time. And the surveys show that supply constraints are mounting, which is... 1st October 2021 · 2 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Weekly Loose fiscal policy in CEE, Russia’s natural gas windfall Government draft budgets approved for 2022 this week in Czechia and Poland and further details of social support in Hungary suggest that fiscal policy will remain supportive of growth in Central... 1st October 2021 · 10 mins read