Emerging Markets Economics Update Which EMs are most at risk from dollar strength? The US dollar’s recent strong run has raised concerns that EMs with large holdings of dollar-denominated debt will come under pressure. Indeed, India’s central bank governor, Raghuram Rajan, has gone... 11th February 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Czech Rep: Euro-zone clouds outlook, policy to be eased further Renewed weakness in Germany and the crisis in Russia will weigh on the Czech Republic’s key export sector in the coming quarters. However, the conditions are in place for domestic demand to strengthen... 10th February 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update What to make of the latest currency moves in Central Europe After a year of stability, Central Europe’s currency markets sprung back to life over the past month as the ECB unveiled a QE programme and the Swiss National Bank (SNB) decided to scrap its exchange... 9th February 2015 · 1 min read
Europe Economics Update Turkey Ind. Prod. (Dec.) & Czech CPI (Jan.) The rebound in Turkish industrial production growth to 2.6% y/y in December provides an encouraging sign that the economy may have emerged from its recent slump. But even so, growth over Q4 as a whole... 9th February 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Turkey caught in currency crosswinds The fall in the Turkish lira against the US dollar over the past couple of weeks has raised fresh concerns about the country’s relatively high burden of dollar-denominated debt. But at the same time... 6th February 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Oil prices to determine interest rate moves in Russia The fact that the ruble has strengthened since Russia’s surprise cut in interest rates last Friday is more a reflection of the subsequent rebound in global oil prices than it is an endorsement by... 6th February 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Data Response Czech & Hungary Industrial Production (Dec.) Strong industrial production figures from both the Czech Republic and Hungary in December provide further evidence that Central Europe is weathering headwinds from the euro-zone relatively well. On... 6th February 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Data Response Russia CPI (Jan.) Inflation in Russia jumped to a five-year high of 15.0% y/y last month, as the effects of the sharp fall in the ruble towards the end of last year led to a surge in import prices. The big rise in... 5th February 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Polish interest rate cut coming in March Having left its policy interest rate unchanged at 2.0% earlier today, the Polish MPC pretty much confirmed at the post-meeting press conference that a rate cut is on the way in March. For now, we... 4th February 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Update Risks skewed towards unexpected rate cuts – for now… Today’s decision by the People’s Bank of China to lower reserve requirements underlines the current heightened risk of policy surprises in the EM world. We continue to think that any further surprise... 4th February 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Update EM manufacturing weakness concentrated in the BRICs The latest PMI data suggest that manufacturing activity across the emerging world was stable, but still sluggish, at the start of this year. However, while manufacturers in the BRIC economies are... 3rd February 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Data Response Turkey CPI (Jan.) The smaller-than-expected fall in Turkish inflation last month, to 7.2% y/y, means the central bank won’t hold an extraordinary meeting tomorrow to lower interest rates, but this is only likely to... 3rd February 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Data Response Russia GDP (2014) Preliminary annual 2014 Russian GDP data, which showed that the economy grew by 0.6% over the year as a whole, are consistent with a small year-on-year fall in GDP in the final quarter of last year... 30th January 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Activity Monitor BRICs remain the EM weak spot Our GDP Tracker suggests that aggregate EM GDP expanded at a modest pace of just over 4% y/y in November as the BRIC economies continued to disappoint. Meanwhile, the latest activity figures provide... 30th January 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Europe Economics Update Russia’s surprise rate cut a response to political pressures Today’s surprise decision by the Central Bank of Russia (CBR) to cut its one-week repo rate by 200bp, to 15.0%, reflects political pressures rather than economic reality. The decision was premised on... 30th January 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Update How exposed are EMs to contagion from Greece? The fact that the mounting concerns about Greece’s future within the euro-zone have had only a limited impact on financial markets across the emerging world appears to reflect the belief that problems... 29th January 2015 · 1 min read