Brazil's fiscal balance to remain under strong pressure
Apr 02, 2015 05:40 am UTC| Commentary
The 2014 fiscal balance was better than expected as GDP and the deflator growth surprised to the upside in Q4."we expect the fiscal balance to improve over the next few years on the governments pledge to introduce...
Brazil's primary surplus unlikely in 2015
Apr 02, 2015 05:31 am UTC| Commentary
A quick calculation suggests that while both the rise in the interest payments and the deterioration in the primary balance have contributed equally to the rise in the fiscal deficit, the bulk of the recent rise (i.e., on...
Talks on Greece likely to continue after Easter
Apr 02, 2015 05:28 am UTC| Commentary
The Eurogroup Working Group, the preparatory body of euro area finance ministers, held a conference call on Greece yesterday to examine a fresh list of economic reforms sent by the Greek government. The Greek government...
Apr 02, 2015 05:22 am UTC| Commentary
The tone of the UK construction sector remains extremely buoyant. Business expectations rose last month. There are still signs of excess demand and so construction output (recall that this PMI is an output or activity...
Markets likely to focus on US monthly labour market report
Apr 02, 2015 05:01 am UTC| Commentary
Markets will likely be focused on tomorrows US monthly labour market report, including nonfarm payrolls and average earnings growth.As such, todays data releases will probably receive limited attention. That said, US...
Korea's current account surplus to reach USD94.3bn in 2015
Apr 02, 2015 04:51 am UTC| Commentary
Koreas current account surplus narrowed slightly in February, slipping to USD6.4bn from USD6.9bn in January (December: USD6.9bn; 2014: USD89.2bn). That said, due to a lower oil import bill, the surplus was the largest on...
Soft February US construction spending leaves Q1 GDP tracking unchanged at 1.0%
Apr 02, 2015 04:43 am UTC| Commentary
US construction spending fell 0.1% m/m in February, below the market expectation for a 0.9% gain. The main miss relative to the expectation came in public construction spending, which fell 0.8% and was driven by weakness...
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Labour can afford to be far more ambitious with its economic policies – voters are on board
Sudan: civil war stretches into a second year with no end in sight