Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly Ceasefire latest, CBE governor stays on, PIF annual report The US government has pushed for a ceasefire agreement between Israel and Hamas this week, but an agreement seems some way off still. A deal would benefit Egypt, Jordan and Lebanon, whose economies... 22nd August 2024 · 6 mins read
Europe Economics Update Big fall in negotiated wage inflation The scale of the fall in negotiated wage inflation in Q2 was largely due to one-off payments made in Germany in March but not repeated in Q2. However, the underlying trend in wage inflation is clearly... 22nd August 2024 · 3 mins read
Europe Rapid Response Euro-zone Flash PMIs (August 2024) The rise in the flash PMIs for August is not as good as it looks as it was largely due to a boost from the Paris Olympics and the survey still points to GDP growth slowing in Q3. With price pressures... 22nd August 2024 · 2 mins read
UK Economics Rapid Response UK S&P Global/CIPS Flash PMIs (Aug. 2024) August’s composite PMI provides further evidence that some of the recent strength of activity in the first half of this year may have been due to catch-up growth following the mild recession in the... 22nd August 2024 · 3 mins read
Emerging Europe Rapid Response Poland Activity Data (Jul.) The weaker-than-expected batch of Polish activity figures for July is more likely to be a blip than the start of a soft patch. We remain comfortable with our view that Poland’s economy will expand by... 22nd August 2024 · 1 min read
UK Economics Update Will public sector pay rises drive up inflation? We don’t think the slew of inflation-busting public sector pay deals that have been agreed by the new government will prevent wage growth from slowing next year to the rates of 3.0-3.5% we think are... 21st August 2024 · 4 mins read
UK Economics Rapid Response UK Public Finances (Jul. 2024) July’s public finances figures continued the recent run of bad news on the fiscal position, with public borrowing on track to overshoot the Office for Budget Responsibility’s (OBR) 2024/25 forecast of... 21st August 2024 · 3 mins read
Emerging Europe Rapid Response Turkey Interest Rate Announcement (Aug.) The Turkish central bank (CBRT) left its main policy rate unchanged again today, at 50.00%, and offered little sign that it will soon start an easing cycle. While most other analysts expect monetary... 20th August 2024 · 2 mins read
Europe Economics Update Services inflation will start falling again soon There are good reasons to expect services inflation to start falling again towards the end of this year and in 2025. But as long as wage growth remains high, services inflation will stay strong too. 20th August 2024 · 2 mins read
Europe Commercial Property Valuation Monitor Europe Commercial Property Valuation Monitor (Q3 2024) Commercial property valuations worsened slightly in Q2 across all sectors as bond yields rose while property yields held steady. However, the decline in government bond yields so far in Q3 means... 20th August 2024 · 0 mins read
Europe Economics Update Dovish rate cut by Riksbank, more to follow We think the Riksbank will follow today’s 25bp rate cut with a cut at each of the three remaining meetings this year to take the policy rate to 2.75%. But we expect the terminal rate to be 2.5% which... 20th August 2024 · 3 mins read
Europe Rapid Response Riksbank Policy Announcement (August 2024) Alongside the Riksbank’s decision to reduce the policy rate by 25bp today to 3.5%, policymakers also lowered their rate expectation for the end of this year from either 3.25% or 3.0% at the June... 20th August 2024 · 2 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update War in Gaza still holding Israel’s economy back Israel’s economy slowed more than expected in Q2 as weak investment and supply constraints continued to hold back activity. A ceasefire to halt the conflict in Gaza would clearly be positive for the... 19th August 2024 · 4 mins read
UK Economics Weekly Is the UK enjoying ‘Goldilocks’ conditions? The good news just kept coming this week. The economy grew at an above-trend rate for the second quarter in a row in Q2, the unemployment rate fell to 4.2%. At 2.2%, CPI inflation is only a touch... 16th August 2024 · 6 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Weekly Polish outperformance The standout feature of the data released in the region this week was the strength of Polish GDP in Q2 – the economy is now comfortably outperforming its peers in the region. The most plausible... 16th August 2024 · 7 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly How worrying is German wage inflation? In our view, the concerns which were raised again this week about a wage-price spiral in Germany look overdone. The Indeed tracker suggests that wage pressures have eased since late 2022 and there are... 16th August 2024 · 6 mins read