According to Reuters, Britain’s economy suffers from an unstable world market and lower consumer spending. Manufacturing capacity decreased as well, especially in major sectors of the economy. In light of the grim news, economists do not expect the Bank of England to raise interest rates in the short-term.
Japan is almost fully dependent on energy imports. In March 2011, a devastating earthquake and tsunami hit eastern Japan and damaged the nuclear power plant in Fukushima. This disaster led to the shutdown of all nuclear power plants due to the lack of government safety approvals. Japan replaced this significant loss of nuclear power with energy generated from imported natural gas, low-sulfur crude oil, fuel oil, and coal.
The decision of the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to slash the repo rate (the rate at which the RBI lends to commercial banks) by 50 basis points (bps) has surprised many. The RBI governor, Raghuram Rajan, had previously taken baby steps to reduce interest rates, focusing strictly on inflation. Now the repo is at 6.75 percent, the level of 2011, down from 8 percent at the start of 2015. Both the domestic and external economic environment warranted big steps by the RBI to induce economic growth.
According to United Nations World Population Prospects 2015, Singapore will become a super-aged society by 2026. By then, one in five people in the country (or 1.25 million) will be aged 65 or above. The median age will exceed 44.9, up from just 18.1 in 1965. When Singapore gained independence in 1965, just 2.65 percent of the population (or 49,757) were aged 65 or above.
EM is starting the week on a positive footing. Aside from the recovery in global risk appetite, the uptick in commodity prices and the broader weaker tone in the dollar, we think the price action in Brazil has helped EM more generally. In our view, the (relatively) positive news flows and the subsequent strong rally in all asset classes has helped to change the tone for EM. The question is whether it can last (a question we will address in an upcoming report). While it is far too early to say that EM has turned a corner, it looks as if we are reaching a more mature s
Stocks in Europe rose Monday morning, while emerging markets capital losses continue in the wake of falling commodity prices and lowered growth expectations.
The rise in stocks in Europe was largely due to weak economic data, which has fueled expectations of an increased quantitative easing program from the European Central Bank. ECB President Mario Draghi has recently hinted that the central bank’s current stimulus program, which purchases over $1 trillion of bonds in public markets, may extend to encourage inflation.
Europe’s Low Growth
According to the central Chinese government, solving rural poverty and environmental degradation problems will require resettling more than 10 million citizens by 2050. This number does not include the 7 million people that have already been resettled over the last 30 years or so.
The recent Washington summit took the US-China bilateral relations onto a new level, while President Xi’s UN visit gave a glimpse of China’s new global role.
The current characterization of the U.S.-China bilateral relations are very different trajectories of power. As President Barack Obama is on his way out, President Xi Jinping is just getting started. In turn, the U.S. presidential election cycle, particularly its aggressive rhetoric, may cast shadows over bilateral progress.
1) Colombia’s central bank unexpectedly hiked its policy rate 25 bp to 4.75%, 2) Mexico extended its FX auctions, 3) Petrobras raised prices for gasoline and diesel for the first time in almost a year, 4) China’s central bank cut the minimum down payment for first-time home buyers, 5) The central bank of Indonesia said it will start FX interventions in the forward market, joining the growing number of countries stepping up against currency weakness, 6) Kazakhstan’s central bank hiked its base rate 400 bp to 16% and narrowed the rates corridor to +/- 1 percentage point.
At the end of every quarter, the IMF reports official reserve holdings. It is the most comprehensive and authoritative source of such information. This is especially true of the currency composition of the reserves, which some countries publish freely and others regard as a national secret.
