Markets

4 February 2015

Few Will Miss India’s Planning Commission

The Planning Commission is dead: long live the National Institution for Transforming India (NITI).The role and remit of India’s new planning institution has been under debate ever since Prime Minister Narendra Modi in his Independence Day address announced the demise...

2 February 2015

The Oil Business is Still Big Business in Indonesia

Indonesia’s ‘oil bonanza’ is now over. It ceased to be a net oil exporter and became a net importer in 2004. Indonesia currently produces only slightly above 800,000 barrels per day while the consumption level is about 1.4 million barrels...

31 January 2015

Measuring the AEC Successes

Regardless of whether or not the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will be successfully concluded by its deadline of 31 December 2015, we should not be solely obsessing about its ability to deliver its ‘single market’ objective on time: the AEC...

30 January 2015

An Emerging Markets Status Update

Over the last week, Qatar (+3.1%), Czech Republic (+1.8%), and Poland (+1.5%) have outperformed in the EM equity space as measured by MSCI, while Russia (-10.9%), Brazil (-6.4%), and UAE (-5.8%) have underperformed. To put this in better context, MSCI...

29 January 2015

Is Europe Stuck with the EMU?

A jacket or shirt may be reversible.  Time is unidirectional, we are taught and some things simply cannot be reversed, like a hard-boiled egg.However, science has once again pulled the rug out beneath our feet.  Earlier this week, ABC reported...

29 January 2015

Maintaining the Philippines Economic Momentum

The Philippines never had it so good. But with a slowing global economy and an election coming up in 2016, what can it expect from the future? The Philippines never had it so good. But with a slowing global economy...

29 January 2015

Is a Hindu Nationalist Agenda Slowing Modi’s Agenda?

Entering 2015 with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) in power at the federal level in India, there appears to have been a metamorphosis in India’s social, political and economic environment. The BJP and its coalition was voted into power in...

28 January 2015

China’s Financial Reforms Include Internet-Only Banking

State-owned banks have long dominated banking in China, but China wants to do things differently now. The Chinese government wants improve its financial sector by creating more confidence and responsiveness towards private customers. Lately, China has seen a lot of...

28 January 2015

Sri Lanka’s Opportunity to Open Up its Economy is Now

The recent election of President Maithripala Sirisena heralds a golden opportunity for Sri Lanka to heal old wounds and to open up its economy — and for the West, India and even East Asian countries to re-engage.In November 2014 the...