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Support for Lula rises compared with previous administrations and other weekly topics
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 22 Jul 2024

Expectations regarding the detailing of the R$ 15 billion contingency announced by the government last week continue. Party conventions aimed at defining candidates and coalitions are ongoing. Finance Minister Fernando Haddad participates in the G20 meeting in Rio de Janeiro. This week's Talki...

Politics: Sheinbaum presents fourth round of cabinet appointments
MEXICO · Report · 22 Jul 2024

This past week President-Elect Claudia Sheinbaum presented the fourth round of her cabinet appointments. The latest additions were the incoming ministers of Labor, Tourism, and Culture, and the director of the Office of the Presidency. The spacing of the cabinet appointments over a several-week ...

Neither Fish nor Fowl
BRAZIL ECONOMICS · Report · 22 Jul 2024

The impact of floods in the southern part of the country on economic activity was apparently lower than expected, indicating a less pronounced slowdown in the second quarter. However, we note that in the regional monthly services survey (PMS), the estimate for services volume in Rio Grande do Sul...

Azerbaijan reopens embassy in Iran
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 22 Jul 2024

On July 15 the embassy began work again. It was closed in January 2023 after a gunman shot 3 people there: killing the head of security and wounding two guards. The motive for the killing is unclear. The wife of the gunman allegedly disappeared when she visited the embassy. But Azerbaijan said it...

The PSD formalized Mayor Paes’s re-election candidacy, Ibama employee representatives will meet with the government to discuss salary proposals, and the Voa Brasil program is expected to offer flights at lower rates
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 22 Jul 2024

The PSD formalized on Saturday, July 20, the candidacy of Mayor Eduardo Paes for re-election. As expected, the party did not delve into the main drama of the pre-election period in the city: the choice of Paes's running mate. This decision is expected to be made by August 5. Today, representative...

Debt Restructuring Deal Reached
UKRAINE · In Brief · 22 Jul 2024

Ukrainian authorities and private bondholders have reached an agreement on debt restructuring. Details are already in all media outlets: nominal losses of 37%, bond repayments starting in 2029, and coupon payments from 2025 (starting with 1.75% in 2025). Sources informed about the negotiations co...

Rental price inflation accelerates, and the labor market tightens
ISRAEL · Report · 22 Jul 2024

1. Uncertainty regarding a potential cease-fire persists, as Israel targets Yemen in retaliation for a drone attack on Tel Aviv. 2. Housing rental prices accelerated in June, pushing core inflation higher. 3. The labor market remains tight, with unemployment low and job vacancies high.

Rental price inflation accelerates and the labor market tightens; shekel weakens slightly as hostilities continue
ISRAEL · In Brief · 21 Jul 2024

Geopolitics: Israel bombed strategic sites in Yemen (oil refineries and other facilities at the Hodeida port) in retaliation to the Houthi drone attack on Tel Aviv (killing one Israeli and wounding several people). On Sunday, missiles fired at Eilat were intercepted. Netanyahu is set to travel to...

Russia and Ukraine exchange prisoners
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 20 Jul 2024

On July 18 the two warring nations each received 95 Prisoners of War (POW) back. Both governments confirmed the exchange took place. There was also an exchange in June 2024. There have been 54 exchanges since the start of the war. The corpses of soldiers have also been exchanged.  One of those se...

The Lukoil case: Zelensky is shooting back at Orbán, but beware of the ocean of false information on the subject
HUNGARY · In Brief · 20 Jul 2024

Starting two days ago, Ukraine stopped transiting crude oil shipments from Russia's Lukoil through the southern branch of the Druzhba pipeline towards the Czech Republic, Hungary and Slovakia. This is because Lukoil was put on Ukraine's sanction list by a presidential decree issued in late June. ...

Ukrainian sanctions cut off Russian oil to Hungary and Slovakia
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 20 Jul 2024

On July 18 it was reported that the Russian supermajor Lukoil can no longer send its oil via pipelines through Ukraine. It may seem astonishing that Ukraine allowed this for two and a half hears in the war. Hungary and Slovakia stated that Lukoil was not delivering any oil now. Slovakia and Hunga...

Short and sweet
TURKEY · Report · 19 Jul 2024 · 1 response

The marquee politics event of the week was the introduction of tax legislation to the Grand Assembly, with its core tenets intact. The marquee non-event was a tiny hike to monthly pensions of retirees in the lowest income bracket, costing the budget only a trifling sum. In his uncharacteristicall...

Zelensky attends UK Cabinet
RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 19 Jul 2024

On July 18 Zelensky arrived in the United Kingdom for the European Political Community Summit. The EPC was founded in 2022 just after the Ukraine War began. This is the 4th ever meeting of the EPC. The EPC includes all European countries from Iceland to Turkey, except Russia and Belarus. Zelensky...

Kazakhstan macro: budgetary policy continues to evolve, reshaping the macro environment
KAZAKHSTAN · Report · 19 Jul 2024

In the past few days, the Bureau of National Statistics, the Ministry of Finance, and the National Bank of Kazakhstan published their regular monthly economic and financial statistics, which pointed to a continuous deceleration of economic growth amid moderating inflation. In such an environment,...

GULF WEEKLY: Kuwait finds offshore oil, Masdar issues green bond, Islamic State attacks Omani mosque, ICJ rules on Israeli occupation
GULF COUNTRIES · Report · 19 Jul 2024 · 2 responses

A skimmable summary overlaid with our analysis and links. Headlines: * PIF signed agreements with three Chinese renewable firms to establish local manufacturing. * Bond issuance is planned to refinance the $13bn bridge loan for Aramco Gas Pipelines. * Masdar issued $1bn in 5-10 year green bo...