GlobalSource Partners | Country Insights

In the aftermath of the previous statistical release that confirmed that the Russian industrial growth was gathering pace in May, Rosstat reported that the rest of the monthly indicators also didn’t look bad last month. Retail sales were up y-o-y by 27.0% and 10% in May and 5M21. The non-food seg...

Ukraine approves reform sought by IMF

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 01 Jul 2021

Parliament voted for several bills to reform the judicial system and stop corruption. The IMF has a USD 5 billion program for Ukraine but the loans are contingent on reform. Ukraine has only received USD 2.1 billion thus far.The draft law has reanimated the High Judicial Council (VRP), which is a...

Government bond issuance reduced in July

ISRAEL · In Brief · 01 Jul 2021

MoF will reduce bond issuance in July. In July, government bond issuance will decline to 7.0bn ILS down from 9.0bn last month. We note that the weekly bond issuance remains fairly unchanged at around 1.7-1.8bn, similar to June (which had five weeks of issuance). Nevertheless, we have seen a gradu...

A vaccine seller's rep reports being charged a bribe in order to sign a contract with the Ministry of Health, and Dep. Luiz Miranda reports being offered a million dollar bribe not to interfere in the purchase of the Covaxin vaccines

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 30 Jun 2021 · 1 response

Luiz Paulo Dominguetti Pereira, representative of the Davati Medical Supply company, should testify in the COVID CPI on Friday. Deputy Ricardo Barros will likely be replaced as government leader in the House. Businessman Carlos Wizard tesitfies in the COVID CPI today.

Russian food tech startup raises USD 46 million for a US launch

RUSSIA / FSU POLITICS · In Brief · 30 Jun 2021

Russian entrepreneurs have raised the money to start their food delivery service in the United States. The Buyk service will be a US edition of Samokat. Samokat was started in St Petersburg in 2020. Samokat was then bought by Mail.Ru and Sber. Russia does not have a reputation for being the most ...

True progress in judicial reform

UKRAINE · In Brief · 30 Jun 2021

On June 29, we witnessed a truly pivotal event. For sure, it was not as important as Ukraine passing into the Euro 2020 quarter-finals. Nevertheless, real progress in judicial reform was long-awaited and is badly needed both for the country's development and our good relations with the IMF. On Ju...

The political economy of megaprojects in Panama: two recent examples

PANAMA · Report · 29 Jun 2021

Economic policy analyses must consider the political forces behind the technical decisions. This fact is relevant in the adjudication of large infrastructure projects, where money and power mingle. Roads, metro rails, and similar large public projects are notable cases. We examine two seminal iss...

Russia’s political/pandemic update: sticks and carrots

RUSSIA ECONOMICS · Report · 29 Jun 2021

The stubborn lack of desire to get vaccinated and abide by safety protocols shown until recently by the absolute majority of Russians caused the daily incidence rate to jump from below 10K to over 20K within a couple of weeks in the second half of June. The preliminary reports of Russia’s daily d...

Back on the grey list

PHILIPPINES · In Brief · 29 Jun 2021

At the end of its plenary on June 25, the Paris-based Financial Action Task Force (FATF) announced that it is adding the Philippines to its list of jurisdictions under increased monitoring, widely referred to as the “grey list.” The latest list contains 22 countries and includes only two other So...

Debt and growth are slowly stabilizing

CHINA FINANCIAL · Report · 29 Jun 2021

• Analysts are increasingly worried that credit growth and economic activity are slowing at an unexpectedly rapid pace in China. I think however that this is mostly a consequence of their overly optimistic expectations for 2021, based on their misunderstanding of the way Beijing constructs and ac...

Sen. Randolfe Rodrigues reports President Jair Bolsonaro in the Supreme Federal Court for the crime of malfeasance in the purchase of the Covaxin vaccines, and Minister Bento Albuquerque asks the population to use less water and energy

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 29 Jun 2021

The Prosecutor General of Brazil will deal with the case against President Bolsonaro. State Dep. Fausto Junior should testify in the COVID CPI today. The CPI should decide whether it will summon Dep. Ricardo Barros. The National Electric Energy Agency meets to discuss taxes. Congress believes Tax...

Removal of further Covid restrictions is taking place

HUNGARY · In Brief · 29 Jun 2021

In our latest report last week, we wrote that local Covid news was just excellent. Well, it still is, or more accurately it has even improved further since then. This morning, the 7-day average of daily new infections was at 56 and daily Covid deaths were at only 4 cases. At present, a total of 1...

The first HPAL plant started commercial operations

INDONESIA · Report · 29 Jun 2021 · 1 response

Indonesia has enjoyed a number of commodities booms in the past few decades, from a sugar boom, to a rubber boom, and an oil boom, with the most recent the coal and CPO booms. Although the performance of crude palm oil and coal was very good, Indonesia is also enjoying the coming of the nickel bo...

On Recovery, Bitcoin and Immigration

CENTRAL AMERICA · Report · 28 Jun 2021

Costa Rica shows signs of recovery attributable to the fast pace of growth in developed economies, despite the intensification of COVID-19 mainly during April and May, and a partial reversal in June. In fact, mobility restrictions were re-introduced, and continued in June. Some acceleration of va...

Politics: Morena scores gains on the state level along with losses in the aggregate vote

MEXICO · Report · 28 Jun 2021

Analysts across the political spectrum are studying Morena's performance in the June 6 mid-term elections. At stake is the future of the Fourth Transformation, President Andrés Manuel López Obrador’s project for a radical transformation of Mexican society. Continuing the 4T after AMLO leaves offi...