Emerging Europe Economics Weekly Energy sanctions ratchet up, Russia close to default? This week’s announcement that the EU will ban the import of Russian coal from mid-August will not have a major impact on Russian export revenues, but it marks a clear shift in the EU’s aim to target... 8th April 2022 · 7 mins read
Europe Economics Update How would Germany be hit by a gas embargo? A full embargo on Russian energy would force Germany to ration gas supplies to its most gas-intensive companies. This would have unpredictable knock-on effects which would cause a recession. While the... 8th April 2022 · 5 mins read
Nordic & Swiss Economics Weekly Flodén leaves no room for ambiguity Riksbank policymaker Martin Flodén dialled up the hawkishness this week, arguing that monetary policy must respond to higher inflation. And with data due next week likely to show Swedish inflation in... 8th April 2022 · 6 mins read
Africa Economics Update Ghana’s policy tightening to hold back recovery Ghana’s economic recovery will remain sluggish over the next couple of years as policy is tightened in a bid to shore up the public finances and tackle high inflation. The risk of an imminent... 8th April 2022 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Pakistan: PM Khan stumped, emergency hike by SBP In Pakistan, the week began with a constitutional crisis and it will likely end with a new Prime Minister at the helm following the Supreme Court ruling on Thursday. Prime Minister Khan’s successors... 8th April 2022 · 7 mins read
China Economics Weekly Housing market revival delayed by outbreak Prior to the latest COVID-19 outbreak, China’s housing market had appeared on the cusp of a rebound. But movement restrictions and weaker consumer confidence have since caused home sales to slump... 8th April 2022 · 7 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly Egyptian pound, Kuwait political turmoil, Tunisia election The Egyptian pound has remained relatively stable since last month’s devaluation, but we think policymakers need to move to a more flexible exchange rate and allow the currency to weaken further... 7th April 2022 · 7 mins read
Global Economics Update Enduring supply-chain woes risk stoking higher inflation Although China’s Omicron wave means that its economy is facing its sharpest slowdown since early 2020, so far it looks like disruptions to global supply chains will be milder than those experienced... 7th April 2022 · 4 mins read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Early evidence of a hard hit to Russia’s economy Timely indicators suggest that Russian manufacturing contracted by around 20% y/y in March and that consumer spending fell by 10% y/y at the start of April. Russia’s economic downturn looks set to... 7th April 2022 · 3 mins read
Europe Data Response EZ Retail Sales & German Industrial Production (Feb.) The small increases in euro-zone retail sales and German industrial production suggest that economic activity was growing at a modest pace in February. With much higher energy prices now weighing on... 7th April 2022 · 2 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economic Outlook RBA to tighten more sharply than most anticipate We expect Australia’s GDP to surpass its pre-virus trend as soon as this quarter and to keep expanding at a robust pace thereafter. While wage growth will accelerate only gradually, we expect... 7th April 2022 · 24 mins read
Emerging Markets Economics Update Inverted yield curves a poor signal for EM downturns While yield curves have inverted in a number of emerging markets (and look likely to do so in several others in the coming months), they don’t have a good track record in predicting recessions in the... 6th April 2022 · 4 mins read
India Data Response Services & Composite PMIs (Mar.) India’s March PMIs show services as the bright spot last month as looser virus restrictions allowed activity to rebound. Unless COVID-19 cases pick up again, the outlook for the services sector... 6th April 2022 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Update China COVID outbreak a large risk for the rest of Asia So far, the spill overs from the COVID outbreak in China to the rest of Asia look to have been relatively minor. But the possibility of major disruption to supply chains remains a large and growing... 6th April 2022 · 3 mins read
US Data Response International Trade (Feb.) Although the nominal trade deficit was unchanged at $89.2bn in February specifically, the recent weakness of real exports suggests that net trade was a substantial drag on first-quarter GDP growth. 5th April 2022 · 2 mins read
Canada Data Response International Trade (Feb) The goods trade surplus unexpectedly narrowed in February but, with commodity prices rising strongly since then and some of the jump in imports set to be reversed, it will rebound in March. 5th April 2022 · 2 mins read
