Mar 01, 2016 07:21 am UTC| Commentary
South Koreas February 2015 exports dropped 12.2% y/y, as compared with the revised drop of 18.8% in January and decline of 14.3% in December. Februarys print is much better than consensus expectations of a drop of 16.6%....
South Africa faces difficult times, but disaster is not inevitable
Feb 29, 2016 12:34 pm UTC| Insights & Views Economy
Finance minister Pravin Gordhans budget speech has generally been well received. Nevertheless, many people still fear that South Africa is on the verge of disaster. They cite recent events such as the firing of Nhlanhla...
One-off revenues and base effects likely to improve Brazil’s 2016 fiscal results
Feb 29, 2016 06:38 am UTC| Commentary
Brazils primary balance for the general government in January reached a surplus of BRL27.9bn, with BRL8.0bn from regional governments, BRL20.9bn from the central government and a deficit of 1 billion from SOEs. This is an...
Feb 29, 2016 05:13 am UTC| Commentary
Brazil eliminated 99,964 jobs in January 2016, as compared with 81,774 in January 2015. The total number of jobs eliminated, in seasonally adjusted terms, was 129,235, as compared with 154k in December and an average of...
Deterioration of Brazil’s labor market likely to continue
Feb 26, 2016 07:16 am UTC| Commentary Economy
Brazil posted a lower than expected jobless rate of 7.6% in January. In seasonally adjusted terms, the jobless rate fell to 7.8%, as compared with Decembers 8.2%. This was the first decline in the past 12 months. However,...
Lower oil exports may continue to exert downward pressure on Mexico’s trade balance in near term
Feb 24, 2016 09:34 am UTC| Commentary
In 2015, Mexicos exports declined 4.1%, whereas imports dropped 1.2%, resulting in a trade deficit of USD14.5bn, as compared with 2014s deficit of USD2.8bn. Lower oil exports mostly led to the decline in trade balance....
Brazilian central bank unlikely to hike rates despite high mid-February inflation print
Feb 24, 2016 07:32 am UTC| Commentary Central Banks
Brazils February IPCA-15 inflation accelerated 1.42% m/m and 10.8% y/y, surprising on the upside. The unexpected gains in apparel prices and broad-based price adjustments in beauty products mainly led to the surprising...
Johannesburg in a time of darkness: Ivan Vladislavić’s new memoir reminds us of the city’s fragility
Why Germany ditched nuclear before coal – and why it won’t go back
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