Peru: Boluarte vows for consensus
PERU · In Brief · 28 Jul 2023 · 1 response

Today President Boluarte went to Congress and delivered her annual speech. Being highly unpopular, the speech was an attempt to reach out the opposition and the population at large. Left-wing parties are demanding her resignation, although they do not have the votes in Congress to force an impeac...

Outlook mixed, with traditional politicians contenders
CENTRAL AMERICA · Report · 28 Jul 2023

Costa Rica´s economy presented a mixed balance during H1. On the positive side, the country displayed good momentum in real sector accounts, inflation dropped faster than expected and international reserves increased. On the negative side, economic activity in the definitive regime remained low, ...

GULF WEEKLY: Kuwait’s fiscal surplus tops GCC, rates hiked with Fed, Qatar appoints UAE ambassador
GULF COUNTRIES · Report · 28 Jul 2023

A skimmable summary overlaid with our analysis and links. Headlines: * The GCC’s aggregate fiscal surplus in 2022 was 5.9% of GDP, the most since 2013. * Kuwait was the last to publish its outturn data, with the largest surplus, about 12% of GDP. * Brent crude touched $84, the highest since ...

Russia offers free grain to six African countries
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 28 Jul 2023

On July 27 the Russia-Africa Summit took place. Putin promised grain to 6 countries. This came after Russia ended the Black Sea Grain Initiative. Russia will provide up to 50,000 tons to Burkina Faso, Zimbabwe, Mali, Eritrea, Somalia and the Central African Republic. Eritrea was the only one of t...

Minister Tebet said she was not informed of Lula’s intention to appoint Márcio Pochmann as the new president of the IBGE, legislative activity will resume on Monday, and pressure for ministerial reform will continue
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 28 Jul 2023

The Minister of Planning, Simone Tebet, who is responsible for the IBGE, confirmed that she was not informed in advance that economist Márcio Pochmann would be appointed. But she did say she was aware that the position would eventually be filled by the president. This was the last week before the...

Disinflation and the BOP are on track, but fiscal adjustment remains a problem
HUNGARY · Forecast · 28 Jul 2023

The current year is clearly devoted to macroeconomic adjustment, as the government is concentrating heavily on restoring price stability and putting the external and fiscal balances in order, following the serious damage caused by high energy prices and the election-year loosening of spending pol...

The latest cabinet reshuffle
INDONESIA · Report · 28 Jul 2023

A few months ago, the Indonesian government suffered a blow after one of its Cabinet Ministers was detained for a corruption case. The amount involved in the case was more than 8 trillion rupiahs, or slightly more than 500 million USD. The accused minister held the portfolio of Communication and ...

Bi-Weekly Economic News Summary
KAZAKHSTAN · In Brief · 27 Jul 2023

Jul 17 KazTransOil: The company increased oil transportation by 7% y-o-y in 1H23 to 21.4 mln tons Bureau of National Statistics: Industrial production in Kazakhstan in 1H23 grew by 3.8% y-o-y Bureau of National Statistics: Investments in fixed assets increased by 13.1% y-o-y in 1H23 to KZT6.7 trl...

Inflation report presentation: some quick reactions
TURKEY · Report · 27 Jul 2023

The CBRT released the year’s third Inflation Report today, which corresponded with Governor Erkan’s first public appearance. The Bank revised the yearend inflation forecast up substantially to 58% (mid-point), from 22.3% previously, citing several reasons like increases in food and administered p...

Fitch raised Brazil's credit rating to "BB", the Ministry of Finance announced a series of measures to increase access to credit, and Márcio Pochmann will become the president of the IBGE
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 27 Jul 2023

The credit rating agency Fitch raised Brazil's credit rating from "BB-" to "BB". The agency took into account that Brazil's macroeconomic and fiscal performance was better than expected. The autonomy of the Central Bank, the pension reform, and especially, the Tax Reform and new fiscal framework ...

The NBU starts easing cycle, cuts prime rate by 3 ppt to 22%
UKRAINE · In Brief · 27 Jul 2023

The recovering economy, slowing inflation, and stabilized FX market have prompted the NBU Board to initiate an easing cycle, beginning with a prime rate cut of 3 ppt, down to 22%. This marks the first rate cut since the large-scale invasion began. The NBU also indicates that further easing is exp...

Pessimistic Western views of the Ukrainian counter-offensive
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 27 Jul 2023

Secret German government documents were leaked to the media on July 26. They make depressing reading from a Ukrainian perspective. They gloomily assess that the counter-offensive is making minimal progress but at a high cost and with little chance of a breakthrough. The German military believes t...

Uzbekistan: Central Bank leaves policy rate unchanged, keeps open prospects for rate cuts into year-end
CAUCASUS / CENTRAL ASIA · In Brief · 27 Jul 2023

The Central Bank of Uzbekistan kept the policy rate unchanged at 14.0 percent on Jul 27th. Policy rates have already been reduced and there will be more room for the central bank to cut further this year. After raising the refinancing rate by 300bpts to 17.0 percent in Mar 2022 due to elevated ge...

Moldova expels 45 Russian diplomats and embassy staffers
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 26 Jul 2023

On July 26 Moldova made the announcement, saying it was due to unfriendly acts. They have been given until August 15 to leave, which is generous and suggest that they are not suspected of spying; seven days would be the usual time frame to depart under those circumstances. Notably it did not say ...

Does Colombia need to be a superpower in anything?
COLOMBIA · Report · 26 Jul 2023

Economic downturn has implications for the health of supervised credit institutions. Delinquency ratios are on the rise, already resulting in higher provisions, and likely to keep doing so. Profits of some lenders have been affected, especially those more focused on consumer lending; these losses...