Chief Economist's Note Sunak’s summit focus on AI’s risks shouldn’t detract from its economic potential A version of this note was published in The Times on 7th November, 2023 World leaders gathered at Bletchley Park, the home of Britain’s wartime code breakers, last week to hammer out a joint response... 6th November 2023
US Economics Weekly Has the AI productivity boom already begun? While we are optimistic about the prospects for an AI-related boom in productivity over the next decade, it’s hard to tell whether the current pick-up in growth is a genuine structural acceleration or... 27th October 2023 · 7 mins read
China Economics Weekly Emerging industries won’t replace property The leadership's recent promotion of "new-type industrialisation" has led to suggestions that emerging new manufacturing sectors like green technology could take the place of property as drivers of... 29th September 2023 · 5 mins read
Africa Economics Focus What’s behind South Africa’s growth problem? South Africa’s economy has one of the weakest growth records of any EM over the past decade and its post-pandemic recovery has been particularly disappointing. At the heart of the problem are major... 6th September 2023 · 16 mins read
China Economics Update China’s property sector is increasingly state-led The property downturn has left state-owned developers the dominant players in a previously privately-led sector. The state is likely to continue playing a larger role as consolidation continues around... 3rd August 2023 · 3 mins read
China Economics Update China’s weakness due to further slide in trend growth We estimate that China’s trend rate of growth has slowed from 5.0% in 2019 to 3.0% now, based on our China Activity Proxy. This is a steeper deceleration than in the years leading up to the emergence... 2nd August 2023 · 5 mins read
Commodities Update India’s rice export ban: a food security warning shot? We think the price of rice is set to climb after India’s additional rice export restrictions have exacerbated global shortage concerns. For now, though, we don’t expect other major producers to follow... 1st August 2023 · 2 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Public finance risks in Colombia, boom in Mexico? The concerns about Colombia’s public finances that flared up this week are warranted in our view. We think that the public debt burden will remain well above its pre-pandemic level and higher than in... 14th July 2023 · 5 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Strong survey data, Brazil’s tax reform The batch of recently-released survey data for June from Brazil and Mexico suggests that both economies gathered momentum at the end of Q2. But we doubt that this will be sustained and expect growth... 7th July 2023 · 6 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Update Weakness in productivity growth mostly cyclical One reason for the slump in productivity is that the recent surge in working hours is producing diminishing returns. And we suspect that disruptions caused by the pandemic prevented firms from... 13th June 2023 · 6 mins read
Australia & New Zealand Economics Focus Neutral interest rate may rise to 1% by 2050 As in other advanced economies, Australia’s neutral rate of interest rate will probably edge up a bit over the coming decades. That will result in higher borrowing costs, but Australia’s low public... 23rd May 2023 · 13 mins read
Asia Economics Focus Will Thailand’s prospects improve after the election? Provided Thailand’s general election on 14th May does not set off a new round of political unrest and violence, the economy should grow strongly this year. But the long-term outlook is challenging... 8th May 2023 · 13 mins read
US Data Response Intern’l Trade (Mar.), Productivity & Lab. Costs (Q1) A rebound in exports drove a sharp narrowing of the international trade deficit to a four-month low of $64.2bn in March, from $70.6bn in February, but the surveys continue to suggest that exports are... 4th May 2023 · 2 mins read