NEWS FLASH

UPCOMING WEBINAR: CHINA’S OUTLOOK IN THE TIME OF TRADE WARS...

China virus check – week of March 23
CHINA ADVISORY · Report · 24 Mar 2020

Our latest data for economic activity in China shows: Modest improvement in coal use in the power industry. Very mixed signals from traffic congestion, with some areas showing rapid growth in congestion and others declining sharply. Metro rail traffic is growing but is also mixed...

Economy will be relatively stable amid global turmoil
CHINA · Report · 24 Mar 2020

The coronavirus outbreak in China has had major short-term negative effects on production activities. However, as of March 18th, within China it is largely contained, with zero new cases. The total number of global infection cases outside China has now surpassed the total number of cases in China...

Colombian Central Bank’s March 23, 2020 liquidity provision measures
COLOMBIA · In Brief · 24 Mar 2020 · 1 response

In recent weeks, Colombian asset managers different from banks, have been affected by a flight to liquidity, which in a short span reduced their assets under management from COP 87 trillion to around COP 60 trillion. On March 18, 2020, the Central Bank 1) admitted to the group of institutions wit...

Measures announced by the Central Bank total R$ 1.216 trillion
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 23 Mar 2020

Another set of measures was announced today by the government. To combat the negative effects of the coronavirus epidemic on the financial system, the Central Bank (BC) announced the availability of R$ 1.216 trillion for Brazilian banks. The figure, released today by the BC itself, is equivalent ...

The political and economic consequences of COVID-19 and other weekly topics
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 23 Mar 2020

New measures to mitigate the economic effects of the coronavirus are expected. CNI/Ibope may release a new opinion poll about the government. The Lower House will implement its online voting system. On Wednesday, the IBGE releases partial inflation results for March (IPCA-15). This week’s Talk...

President Ramaphosa puts South Africa into a 21-Day lockdown to fight COVID19
SOUTH AFRICA · In Brief · 23 Mar 2020

In a move, largely expected, President Ramaphosa exercised his full constitutional authority to put the country under a 21-day nation-wide lockdown to avoid a "human catastrophe". South Africa has an estimated 10 million citizens with severely compromised immune system; either due to Aids and.or ...

Contagion continues to rise reaching 245 positive cases
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC · In Brief · 23 Mar 2020

As of March 22, the Ministry of Public Health confirmed 245 positive cases for Covid-19, 43 cases more than the previous day and 133 more than the number confirmed as of March 21. This means the number of positive cases is growing exponentially. Part of it is related to a significant increase in ...

Politics: Seeds of a potential governability crisis
MEXICO · Report · 23 Mar 2020

Could Mexico be teetering on the verge of a governance crisis? President Andrés Manuel Lopez Obrador’s administration is now faced with a three-pronged crisis, a combination strikingly reminiscent of when spiraling criminal violence under the administration of President Felipe Calderón eventually...

The money tap remains far from being fully open
HUNGARY · In Brief · 23 Mar 2020

Today, PM Orbán announced new measures to protect the economy against Covid-19 effects, in addition to the ones made public a few days ago (on March 18). However, the new package appears to be even slimmer than last week's, and in fact it is nothing else than a few additions and refinements added...

Economics: A manufacturing outlook change for the worse
MEXICO · Report · 23 Mar 2020 · 1 response

Last week’s updated aggregate supply and demand results for 2019, as well as the few indicators for the first months of 2020 released to date, already provided plenty of evidence that the economy was heading in the wrong direction, long before the Covid-19 pandemic began to cast its shadow. Inves...

COVID-19 and the Economy – Reactions in the World and Brazil
BRAZIL ECONOMICS · Report · 23 Mar 2020

Governments the world over have uniformly reached decisions to minimize the deaths caused by the pandemic, even at the cost of economic paralysis. The smoothing of the contagion curve sought by social distancing has reduced the stress on the health system of each country, and hopefully will low...

Markets await more bond purchases by the BoI
ISRAEL · Report · 23 Mar 2020

Israel is entering a recession from the partial lockdown due to the coronavirus, with the duration difficult to assess. This supports low inflation (we expect 0.0% in 2020) and looser monetary policy, as well as a more expansionary fiscal policy. Bond yields have spiked, in part due to fiscal de...

Unconventional monetary policy to fight covid-19
PHILIPPINES · In Brief · 23 Mar 2020

The Monetary Board approved today the purchase of P300 billion of government securities under a repurchase agreement with the Bureau of the Treasury (BTr). In a statement, BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said the additional liquidity is “intended to provide support for those most affected by the enh...

Georgia declares state of emergency
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 23 Mar 2020

On March 21 the Georgian Parliament voted for a one month state of emergency proposed by the president. The country has 49 coronavirus cases and no deaths to date. The law allows the government to close bars, restaurants and entertainment venues as well as banning gatherings and sports matches. T...

Markets await more bond purchases from the BoI
ISRAEL · In Brief · 22 Mar 2020 · 1 response

Highlights of weekly macro review: Most recent economic indicators refer to pre-crisis and therefore of little value. The PMI (manufacturing) declined in February by 4.8 points to 45.3. All components contracted especially production, employment and domestic orders. The Employment Agency is repor...