Markets Archives - Page 454 of 782

Despite Setbacks, Japan’s Abe Perseveres

This year has been a year of resilience for Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe. Consider what he has faced: a contentious debate over national security reforms, widespread opposition to nuclear reactor restarts, a pension record hack that played on public privacy fears, and an economy struggling to gain momentum. Despite these challenges, Abe was reelected in September to a second term as president of the Liberal Democratic Party (LDP), and thus able to continue his prime ministership, without facing a single challenger.

The Foreign Source of Australia’s Housing Boom May Be Overstated

House prices rose by an average of 64% in Sydney and Melbourne in the decade from 2004 to 2014. At the same time foreign investment proposals in developed real estate rose by almost tenfold. This correlation led to many anecdotal stories of Chinese buyers driving up prices and to a Parliamentary Inquiry.

Can Vietnam’s Communist Party Separate Power and Politics?

Every five years, Vietnamese dare to hope that this time, the ruling Communist Party will take a chance on change.

Four successive party congresses have just kicked the ball down the road. They have redistributed positions mainly with a view to preserving factional balance. The leadership has been left deadlocked on core issues: Vietnam’s stance toward China and other powers, the state’s role in the economy and whether Party actions should be subject to review by independent judges.

Sri Lanka Turns (a good) Corner Toward the Future

It is no exaggeration to say that 2015 will be remembered as a major turning point for Sri Lanka as a nation. The Sri Lankan people made a decisive choice towards democracy and good governance, towards communal reconciliation and for moving the country back towards its traditional foreign policy orbit. It was a reassertion of the values that could make Sri Lanka the success story of South Asia.

Thailand Faces Seafood Boycott amidst Slavery Report

Calls for a boycott of Thailand’s fish and shrimp products have grown as a new report shows child slavery and human rights violations remain common in the country’s seafood industry. An in-depth report by the Associated Press detailed working conditions in which children peel shrimp for several hours for little-to-no pay alongside adults who are held in captivity and forced to work.

Australia’s Win is ISDS’s Gain

Christmas has come early for advocates of tobacco control, with tobacco giant Philip Morris’s lawsuit against Australian plain packaging legislation ruled invalid. Australia will not have to pay any damages to Philip Morris. Indeed, it is likely that there will be an order for Philip Morris to reimburse the Australian government’s costs in defending this suit.

China’s Global Leadership Litmus Test

The sixth Forum on China–Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), held on 4–5 December 2015, set in motion a deeper pattern of exchanges with its partners that could drive economic transformation across the continent. In ‘scaling-up’ measures to ease African bottlenecks in infrastructure, skills and finance, China’s efforts are also a litmus test of its legitimacy in global leadership.

South and Central America Lead Emerging Markets Headlines

1) Argentina eliminated capital controls and allowed the peso to float, 2) Argentina also eliminated export taxes on agricultural goods that include beef, wheat, and corn, 3) Fitch joined S&P in cutting Brazil to sub-investment grade BB+ with a negative outlook, 4) Brazil’s Supreme Court ruled that impeachment proceedings could move forward

Corporate Credit Crisis Worsens in U.S.

In America, investors’ concern over the prospect of defaults that could emerge in the corporate credit world, which has swollen in value by trillions of dollars since the financial crisis, rose this year.

Thailand’s Democracy, We Hardly Knew Ye

This year was a year of stillness in Thailand, at least in the political realm. The military staged a coup that ousted Yingluck Shinawatra’s elected government in May 2014. Throughout 2015, the military regime of General Prayuth Chan-ocha — Thailand’s current prime minister — promised a number of projects that claimed to put Thailand back on the democratic track. However, these promises proved to be empty.

Two major events in 2015 in particular served to question the sincerity of the junta in its endeavor to reform Thailand.