Global Economics Chart Pack Weak consumer confidence and renewed supply risks World GDP appears to have expanded at a below-trend pace in Q1 as high inflation limited real consumer spending and supply shortages and Omicron waves continued to disrupt activity. March’s broad... 14th April 2022 · 13 mins read
Africa Data Response South Africa Activity Data (Feb.) South Africa’s hard activity data for February were a stark contrast to the recent upbeat surveys as output dropped back in the mining, manufacturing and retail sectors. Electricity problems, fiscal... 14th April 2022 · 3 mins read
China Economics Weekly Logistics under pressure but virus situation improving China’s economy is still reeling from the impact of COVID-19 restrictions. Although the hit remains most severe in services, disruption to trucking has added pressure to industrial supply chains in... 14th April 2022 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Update MAS tightening and strong economy will support SGD The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) tightened monetary policy again at its meeting today. With growth set to remain strong and core inflation likely to stay elevated, we expect the MAS to... 14th April 2022 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update Five questions (and answers) on Pakistan’s crisis We held a Drop-In on the political and economic problems facing Pakistan earlier today (see an on-demand recording here). This Update answers some of the most common questions that we received. 13th April 2022 · 5 mins read
India Economic Outlook Inflation will force the RBI’s hand The surge in global commodity prices will take a little gloss off India’s economic recovery this year but we still expect stronger GDP growth than the consensus. Higher commodity prices will also keep... 13th April 2022 · 19 mins read
Japan Data Response Japan Machinery Orders (Feb. 2022) The sharp fall in machinery orders in February supports our view that business investment fell further in Q1 after a disappointing 2021. However, survey evidence and strong corporate profits point to... 13th April 2022 · 2 mins read
US Economic Outlook Economy will bend not break under higher rates We expect the economy to bend rather than break under the pressure of a rapid monetary tightening by the Fed. We anticipate that real economic growth will remain consistently below its 2% potential... 12th April 2022 · 22 mins read
India Data Response Consumer Prices (Mar.) & Industrial Production (Feb.) Headline consumer price inflation soared beyond even our above-consensus forecast in March and, given that it is likely to rise further over the coming months, we think the RBI will start hiking the... 12th April 2022 · 2 mins read
Latin America Economics Update Brazil: making sense of the latest surveys Depending on which activity survey you look at, Brazil’s economy either staged a rapid recovery in March or slowed. A comprehensive look at the latest figures suggests that the latter is more likely... 12th April 2022 · 4 mins read
Europe Data Response German Final HICP (March) and ZEW (April) Final inflation data for Germany in March and the first survey of economic sentiment for April underline the acute problems which the German economy now faces. Energy inflation and underlying price... 12th April 2022 · 2 mins read
Emerging Europe Data Response Turkey Industrial Production & Retail Sales (Feb.) Turkey’s activity data for February point to a growing divergence between industry, which is being supported by a weak lira, and retail sales which continues to struggle in face of the surge in... 12th April 2022 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Update Pakistan: major challenges await new PM The main challenge facing Shehbaz Sharif, who today replaced Imran Khan as prime minister of Pakistan, is stabilising the economy. The key to achieving this is a deal with the IMF. The price for any... 11th April 2022 · 3 mins read
Latin America Data Response Mexico Industrial Production (Feb.) The disappointing 1.0% m/m fall in Mexico’s industrial production in February was partly because a temporary boost to mining output at the start of the year reversed course. But there were broader... 11th April 2022 · 2 mins read
UK Economics GDP & International Trade (Feb.) The news that the economy was hardly growing at all in February suggests the economy had a little less momentum in Q1 than we had previously thought, and increases the risk of a contraction in GDP in... 11th April 2022 · 4 mins read
Middle East & North Africa Economics Update Lebanon unlikely to meet IMF demands Lebanon has secured a staff-level agreement with the IMF, but we think that it is highly unlikely that policymakers will push through the long list of reforms that are needed to unlock that financing... 8th April 2022 · 3 mins read