GlobalSource Partners | Country Insights

* H1 fiscal balances ranged from a -7.8% of GDP deficit for Oman to a 1.3% surplus for Qatar. * Spending is down across all four states that have reported H1 fiscal data. * We see Qatar’s surplus expanding to 2.2% of GDP for 2021 as a whole. * We forecast a Saudi deficit of -0.7% of GDP, more ...

US attempts to reaffirm support for Ukraine

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 01 Sep 2021

On August 31 Washington DC announced up to USD 60 million in military assistance for Ukraine. The United States claimed that Russian military activity in Eastern Ukraine has intensified in recent days and cited mortar attacks as evidence thereof.Javelin anti-tank missiles are among the hardware s...

Growth slows in Q2, but remains positive

TURKEY · Report · 01 Sep 2021

Turkey's GDP increased by 21.7% in the second quarter of the year, over the same period of last year, broadly in line with expectations. In calendar- and seasonally-adjusted terms, growth slowed to 0.9%, q/q, from 2.2% (revised up from 1.7%) in the first quarter (Graph 1), suggesting that muc...

Energy fees to increase by 49.63% due to the water crisis, the emergency aid program may be prolonged if the Auxílio Brasil program does not begin in November, and the government is optimistic about the Federal Budget

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 01 Sep 2021

The government may reward those who decrease their energy consumption by 10-20%. A provisional measure on the railway legal framework was poorly received by the Senate; some are calling for Pacheco to return it to the government. Pacheco has confirmed the possibility of prolonging the emergency a...

Russian digital giant buying Uber Russia

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 31 Aug 2021

On August 31 it was announced that Yandex is buying the ride hailing service for USD 1 billion. Yandex and Uber had been cooperating. Yandex also delivers food and has a car sharing service. Yandex Lavka is the grocery delivery arm of the company. Uber has a 33.5% stake in Yandex Lavka and an 18....

Bolsonaro may have to prolong the Emergency Aid program, Arthur Lira is insisting on the income tax bill, and the 2022 Federal Budget should be submitted to Congress today

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 31 Aug 2021

Every time the Emergency Aid program approaches its end, political pressure builds to prolong it, even though the economic team does not believe that the program should be prolonged. Although governors and mayors still do not support the income tax bill, Lira is trying to reach an agreement with ...

Russia’s political/pandemic update: The roads we take

RUSSIA ECONOMICS · Report · 31 Aug 2021

With less than three weeks left to the Duma elections, Russia’s political situation remained quiet as no major initiatives were announced either by the government or by its opponents on both flanks. Even though Russia’s daily COVID-19 infections rate steadily declined in August, having fallen to ...

Wage growth was much stronger in June than official data suggested at first glance

HUNGARY · In Brief · 31 Aug 2021

Nominal wage growth on a per employee basis was reported by KSH at only 3.5% yoy in June, implying -1.7% yoy for the real-terms number. This was kind of perplexing at first glance, for being unusually low compared to any previous numbers: in H1 total, wage growth was 8.3% yoy nominal and 4% yoy r...

Macro outlook ahead of the elections

ARGENTINA · Report · 31 Aug 2021

Contrary to former elections, some of the key electoral positions will be defined through the primaries. This is a change from former years, when the primaries were usually mere “national polls”. The composition of the pre-candidates for Juntos por el Cambio (JxC) in the City and Province of B...

Economic activity surges, helped by improvement in vaccination coverage. The 2022 budget proposal comes to the legislature for approval with increasing participation of ACP transfers.

PANAMA · Report · 31 Aug 2021

IMAE for the second quarter showed an increase of 27%: April grew 21.3% year over year; May registered a 34.2% increase, and June, a 24.9% increase. This result is the consequence of a revision of the previously published IMAE figures: for April, growth was revised from 12.1% to 21.3%, and in May...

A rebound, as expected

INDONESIA · Report · 30 Aug 2021

As expected, Indonesia has seen a rebound in its economic growth. In Q2 2021, the Indonesian economy reported an increase of 7.07% year over year. Compared to the previous quarter, the Indonesian economy grew by 3.31%. This is the first positive growth in the economy since the start of the Covid-...

Politics: A political reform less about perfecting the system than turning back the clock

MEXICO · Report · 30 Aug 2021

It has taken well over 40 years and no less than a dozen political/electoral reforms to untether Mexico from the days of one-party rule to a solid yet imperfect system of electoral democracy with increasing alternation of power between parties. Reforms up until now have gone a long way toward mak...

Synthesis of the Brazilian Economy

BRAZIL ECONOMICS · Report · 30 Aug 2021

Bolsonaro’s diatribes during August obscured the long-awaited alleviation of the health crisis. The (belated) increased supply of vaccines is now allowing strong expansion of the number of vaccinated people, thus reducing the cycle of contagion and deaths caused by Covid-19. It is possible that w...

Lula nods to the center and other weekly topics

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 30 Aug 2021

The 2022 Federal Budget will be submitted to Congress this week. The House will analyze the changes that have been made to the Electoral Code. The government is discussing the bill on the payroll tax exemption with Deputy Jerônimo Goergen (PP-RS). Deputy Darci de Matos (PSD-SC) should submit his ...

Economics: Activity indicators proved encouraging in August, but risks remain in inflation and public finance stability

MEXICO · Report · 30 Aug 2021

Economic data published in August was nominally positive almost across the board, although the month also brought reminders of many continuing points of risk and how much the month’s positive numbers reflected the very depressed state of an economy that was largely in lockdown a year prior. J...