US Economics Update Debt ceiling uncertainty only likely to grow A bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling alongside modest cuts to government spending still appears to be the most likely way out of the current impasse. It’s possible that moderate Republicans... 3rd May 2023 · 3 mins read
US Economics Weekly Q1 GDP growth muted; Q2 will be worse Although underlying activity growth rebounded in the first quarter, while wage and price inflation remained too high, we expect the second quarter to bring a sharper slowdown across the board. 28th April 2023 · 9 mins read
Latin America Economics Weekly Argentina’s peso woes, Paraguay’s China-Taiwan vote The measures undertaken by Argentina's government to stem the run on the peso over the past couple of weeks might provide some temporary relief, but with inflation and the fiscal position continuing... 28th April 2023 · 7 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly Economy stagnant; new fiscal rules some way off Data released on Friday confirmed that the euro-zone economy was broadly stagnant in Q4 and Q1. Meanwhile, the European Commission’s proposed new fiscal rules will need further changes before member... 28th April 2023 · 9 mins read
China Economics Weekly Next in the spotlight: local government debt Investors sometimes talk about a ball of speculative money that rolls around China’s asset markets. There’s a ball of worry too, and it is rolling back into local government debt. The immediate... 28th April 2023 · 8 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly Egypt default fears on the rise The IMF and foreign investors are growing increasingly concerned about the lack of reform progress from Egypt’s government. The pound appears to still be heavily managed and the government’s... 27th April 2023 · 6 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Chart Pack IMF deals in choppy waters Balance of payments strains have prompted Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia to turn to the IMF over the past six months or so, but agreements in Egypt and Tunisia are faltering. The IMF postponed its first... 26th April 2023 · 12 mins read
UK Data Response Public Finances (Mar.) The news that total borrowing in 2022/23 was £13.2bn lower than the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) predicted only a month ago provides the Chancellor with more wiggle room to cut taxes and/or... 25th April 2023 · 4 mins read
US Economics Weekly May rate hike likely to be the last We now expect the Fed to press ahead with another 25bp rate hike at the FOMC meeting early next month but, with the economic data softening and the risks of a debt ceiling crisis rising, we still... 21st April 2023 · 8 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly Aramco-PIF, COP28, Tunisia politics, Black Sea grain The latest transfer of a 4% stake in Aramco by the Saudi government to the Public Investment Fund will help meet the Kingdom meet its Vision 2030 goals, but it will not reduce the state’s dependency... 20th April 2023 · 6 mins read
India Chart Pack The geopolitical balancing act India is benefitting from maintaining its historic unaligned stance in tensions between the US and Russia. Since the start of the war in Ukraine, India has been ramping up oil imports from Russia to... 20th April 2023 · 10 mins read
Japan Economics Update What to do about persistent corporate surpluses? A higher corporate tax would reduce corporate sector surpluses and could stimulate demand if the additional revenue were used to finance higher public spending or transfers to households. But the tax... 17th April 2023 · 5 mins read
Europe Chart Pack Banking troubles won’t stop ECB hiking to 4% We think that the recent stress in the banking sector has had little impact on the outlook for monetary policy in the euro-zone. While there were significant outflows of bank deposits in the five... 11th April 2023 · 11 mins read
Europe Economics Weekly Outlook beyond Q1 bleak, more Italy energy support The latest survey and activity data suggest that, after stagnating in Q4, euro-zone GDP returned to growth in the first quarter. But a recession in the remainder of 2023 still seems likely to us... 6th April 2023 · 6 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Weekly OPEC+ cuts and the Gulf, Saudi labour, Morocco-IMF The surprise voluntary oil output cut by OPEC+ will directly shave 1-2%-pts off GDP growth in the region’s members this year, which has prompted us to revise down our 2023 GDP growth forecasts. That... 6th April 2023 · 8 mins read
Emerging Markets Economic Outlook First to hike, first to cut Aggregate EM GDP growth will be much stronger this year than last, but that’s almost entirely a result of China’s reopening rebound. Growth in most other EMs will be weaker and will generally... 4th April 2023 · 27 mins read
