Egypt needs enhanced IMF deal urgently Egypt’s foreign currency woes remained in the spotlight this week, highlighting the importance of getting an enhanced IMF deal over the line in order to avoid a disorderly balance of payments crisis. This week …
18th January 2024
Vietnam in the “lean US camp” Vietnam this week played host to President Xi Jinping of China and in doing so became the only country in the world this year to have received state visits from the leaders of both the US and China. During Xi’s visit, the …
15th December 2023
Tensions within OPEC+ rise as threat of cut looms OPEC+ was meant to be in the spotlight this weekend but, in a surprise move, the meeting has been delayed until Thursday. The slide in oil prices and the Israel-Hamas conflict suggest that output quotas …
23rd November 2023
Over half of cross-border settlement now in RMB Earlier this week, the People’s Bank published its annual report on renminbi internationalisation. The message from the 84-page document is that global use of China’s currency has been gaining momentum …
3rd November 2023
Infrastructure remains a major weakness Indonesia’s first high-speed train line is due to become operational this Sunday, when a WHOOSH bullet train departs the Indonesian capital of Jakarta for the provincial capital of Bandung, 88 miles away. Journey …
29th September 2023
Huawei's chip breakthrough The launch of Huawei’s new phone, the Mate 60 Pro, has sparked a debate over the effectiveness of US export controls that were tightened last year, restricting the sale to China of machinery needed to produce sub-18nm chips. The …
8th September 2023
Time for a new acronym Earlier today it was confirmed that Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, Iran, Argentina, and Ethiopia were all being invited to join the BRICS bloc and, while this is unlikely to have major economic effects in the near term, the possible …
24th August 2023
Stronger RMB by year-end The PBOC’s Q2 Monetary Policy Report, published last Friday, included new language pledging to “prevent large fluctuations in the exchange rate”. Then, with the renminbi approaching 7.3/$ at the start of this week, the PBOC pushed …
7th July 2023
Indian manufacturing to benefit by leaning to US The sweeping agreements on trade and defence announced during Narendra Modi’s state visit to the US this week underline that India’s government and firms increasingly see their interests as favouring …
23rd June 2023
Slow progress tackling construction backlog New home sales have ticked up since the end of last year, helped by a post-zero-COVID recovery in consumer confidence and large reductions in mortgage rates and down-payment requirements. But the improvement has …
26th May 2023
Fracturing back in the spotlight The worsening relationship between China and the US is set to be one of the key themes of the G7 meeting, now underway in Japan. This dedicated page on our website is the best place to go for our ongoing work on …
19th May 2023
Difficult balancing act for the Philippines The US and the Philippines this week began their largest-ever joint military exercises, with 17,000 troops taking part. The exercises follow an agreement in February that provided the US with four more …
14th April 2023
Note: Join our 6th April online briefing all about the risks to EMs from banking turmoil. Register now . China and Brazil are taking steps to allow bilateral trade to be settled in renminbi rather than US dollars. The Brazilian branch of ICBC will …
31st March 2023
Official efforts to curb China’s reliance on imported semiconductors have been going on for years. In 2015, the government set a goal of China being 70% self-sufficient by 2025. But progress toward that target has been much slower than hoped. Only a third …
24th March 2023
Labour reforms could encourage more MNCs The overarching message from our latest India Economic Outlook published this week is that while prospects for the economy look a little uninspiring over the near term, there are reasons to be optimistic further …
Common currency talk highlights dollar concerns The week kicked off with the surprise news that Argentina and Brazil are looking at establishing a common currency to facilitate trade between the two countries. Further reports have clarified that, rather …
27th January 2023
The Party Congress has slowed the leadership’s response to the semiconductor export controls introduced by the Biden administration two weeks ago. But the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology has, according to Bloomberg, been conducting …
21st October 2022
Apple production shift boosts local manufacturing Regular readers of our India research will be (perhaps all-too-) familiar with our view that the key to India sustaining rapid economic growth over coming decades is the development of its manufacturing …
14th October 2022
US-Saudi relationship dials back Developments since last week’s OPEC+ decision provide further evidence that the relationship between Saudi Arabia and the US has soured. (See our immediate take on it here .) Chair of the US Senate Foreign Relations …
13th October 2022
Our annual Spotlight series this year looks at the implications of the “fracturing” of the global economy that we believe is being caused by the re-emergence of geopolitics as a driver of policy. The key divide is between China and the West. Events at the …
7th October 2022
Taiwan has dominated the headlines this week, with Nancy Pelosi’s visit triggering Chinese military drills and restrictions on cross-strait trade. These moves appear largely symbolic. China’s bans on exports of natural sand and imports of some Taiwanese …
5th August 2022
Tech crackdown goes to New York… Decoupling has entered a new phase over the past year. Where China previously was trying to temper US efforts to decouple, in key areas it now appears to want the same. The Five-Year Plan’s push for self-sufficiency in …
9th July 2021
Consumer boycotts of foreign brands in China are nothing new but they have become more frequent . A dataset produced last year by the Australian Strategic Policy Institute (ASPI) identified 57 acts of what it calls “coercive diplomacy” in 2019, more than …
1st April 2021
The “nuclear option”? The threat of US sanctions on Chinese banks is drawing renewed attention to their reliance on SWIFT, the financial messaging system used to process most cross-border transactions. SWIFT is a co-operative of global banks and is …
30th July 2020
Hurdles remain to Wall Street’s China dream The Phase One trade deal signed this week includes commitments by China that will widen market access for US non-bank financial institutions (NBFIs). Foreign ownership caps on insurance, securities, futures and …
17th January 2020
If strictly enforced, the US decision to ban Huawei from doing business with American firms would be major headache for the company, which accounts for around 0.2% of Chinese GDP. And the move may also make it more difficult for the two countries to reach …
17th May 2019
