Markets

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...

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...

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,...

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...

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...

China’s state monopolies survive alongside a cutthroat private sector. China’s state monopolies survive alongside a cutthroat private sector. The recent announcement of China Minmetals merger with MCG and this year’s mergers of China North Rail with China South Rail have...

The second World Internet Conference (WIC), also known as the Wuzhen Summit, will take place Dec 16 -18, in Wuzhen, Zhejiang. Chinese President Xi Jinping will attend the conference and address the opening ceremony. It takes place amid dramatic expansion...

All eyes are on the US Federal Reserve, which is expected to raise interest rates for the first time in nearly a decade. Since the financial crisis in 2008, the US, along with the Eurozone, UK and Japan have held...

We all know by now that Britain has a productivity problem. The average British worker simply doesn’t make as much stuff as those from other major countries and for all the agreement that something must be done, there is little...

There is still optimism that the Japanese economy will prevail. Projections are that the economy is rebounding and Japan will achieve reasonably good growth for the next several years. Some progress has been achieved in the three years of Abenomics,...

As 2015 draws to a close, the Indonesian government is trying to convince the jury on two counts — first, that it has turned the corner towards more constructive economic policy, and second, that it has the political leadership and...

EM starts the FOMC week off on a soft footing.  Besides the prospects of Fed liftoff Wednesday, oil prices are making new cycle lows.  Uncertainty about China’s FX policy is also making markets nervous, though we think this concern is...

The year in Indonesian politics began with a novice president in Joko Widodo (Jokowi) who, while struggling with day-to-day politics, still inspired hope that he would pursue the unfinished business of democratisation. After putting some early blunders behind him, Jokowi...

How can two words create so much confusion? The government has released its options paper on Australia’s misuse of market power laws. However, all the options miss the key point. The law is section 46 of the Competition and Consumer...

Investment in Indonesia’s extractive sectors has languished for years, hurt by regulatory confusion, low commodity prices and endemic corruption. With hydrocarbon and mineral industries, constituting over 40 percent of Indonesia’s exports, and energy consumption rising at home, reform is important...