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UPCOMING WEBINAR - LATIN AMERICA IN 2025: HOW WORRIED SHOULD WE BE?...

Advantage Gulen, Service Erdogan
TURKEY · In Brief · 20 Dec 2013

The action on the screen is moving so fast, it is impossible to suppress the adrenalin rush and to contemplate the end of this movie. Dare I say that the Bribery and Corruption Operation (the Operation) may be the second most talked-about affair in GEM after Fed’s taper? In this brief note, I out...

Moderation Times
PERU · Forecast · 19 Dec 2013

Executive Summary Amid a less favorable international environment, and louder political noise, the Peruvian economy slowed mildly this year. The two main culprits were a decline in exports, and dwindling private investment growth. We expect GDP to grow 5% in 2013, or 1.5 pp below the robust avera...

Operation Big Fish: The morning after
TURKEY · In Brief · 18 Dec 2013

I’m still not ready to write a full-blown market brief on the “Big Fish” corruption probe launched yesterday, because there is so little official information. For instance, we don't even know whether the detainees (85 in total) are material witnesses are actually accused of crimes. We also need t...

Buying one more year of ‘stability’
UKRAINE · In Brief · 17 Dec 2013

Ukraine was sold. Officially. For $15 billion loan and $130 per tcm gas price discount. Yanukovitch has been bargaining heavily with EU and Russia and finally he’s got his price. But he does not look happy with this deal. From this day he became a full-fledged marionette of Putin with all consequ...

Where Has All the Spending Gone?
DOMINICAN REPUBLIC · Report · 17 Dec 2013

Executive SummaryPublic investment spending is dragging once again, with probable negative implications for demand, employment and growth. And the 2013 budget deficit is likely to be smaller than expected, though tax revenues are also below target. Tax revenues have been persistently falling shor...

The Challenges Ahead
MEXICO · Report · 17 Dec 2013

Executive Summary As we near the end of what could be described as the most congressionally productive year the Mexican government has enjoyed in at least two decades, there is a bit of irony in the fact that the administration that has presided over such an ambitious reform agenda has lower appr...

Economics: Looking for the FDI Tide to Turn
MEXICO · Report · 17 Dec 2013

Executive Summary Last week the Mexican Congress passed energy reform amendments to the constitution with the support of the PAN and PRI, and over the opposition of the PRD. The most significant aspect of the reform is the extent to which it opens the industry to private investment through a broa...

Monetary Policy: Making a Normal Day Tighter
TURKEY · In Brief · 17 Dec 2013

Today's MPC decision brought no surprises on the "three policy rates" -- the so-called two stable rates (repo rate of 4.5% and primary dealer rate of 6.75%) as well as the marginal funding rate (of 7.75%) -- they all remained unchanged. But by reducing the amount of liquidity provided at the "che...

AKP vs. Gulen Church: Tooth for tooth
TURKEY · In Brief · 17 Dec 2013 · 3 responses

Turkey was shaken to the roots today, as a nation-wide graft operation was launched, with reportedly -The sons of Ministers Muammer Guler and Zafer Caglayan, -Turkey’s most famous real estate developer Mr. Ali Agaoglu, -Halkbank GM Suleyman Aslan taken into custody. (No names confirmed officially...

Government infrastructure spending down
PHILIPPINES · In Brief · 17 Dec 2013 · 2 responses

The papers today reported a 25.7% "surge" in government infrastructure spending from January to October. This is not good news. In fact, based on our calculations, the cumulative figure hides a 12.7% decline in October infra expenditures, an acceleration of the 7% fall in September. We had occasi...

Politics: A New Cycle of Reforms
CHILE · Report · 16 Dec 2013

Yesterday Michelle Bachelet, candidate of the coalition Nueva Mayoria, was elected President of Chile with a 62.16% of the preferences against a 37.83% of Evelyn Matthei. In the second round there was a significant reduction in participation compared to the first round. Under the newly implemente...

Political Insights: Week of December 16
BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 16 Dec 2013

This is the final week of the year for legislative activity in Congress. The Union Budget is the main item on the agenda. The government’s goal is to conclude voting on the budget bill this week. If the vote is postponed until February, there will be problems for the government, since electoral l...

Economic Activity: What Do The Most Recent Data Indicate?
BRAZIL ECONOMICS · Report · 16 Dec 2013

In the past few days two indicators of economic activity have been published: real retail sales, estimated by the IBGE; and the IBC-Br, which is the proxy for GDP estimated by the Central Bank. Both indicate growth in October in relation to September. These figures partly allay the negative pictu...

Bachelet is elected President
CHILE · In Brief · 15 Dec 2013

Today Michelle Bachelet was elected President of Chile with a 62.16% of the preferences against a 37.83% of Evelyn Matthei. The presidential election exhibited a significant reduction in participation compared to the first round. Under the newly implemented voluntary voting system, of the 13.6 mi...

The Price of Gasoline
VENEZUELA · In Brief · 15 Dec 2013

Shortly after the December 8 elections, the government started hinting at a gasoline price increase coupled with new subsidies to public transport. Jorge Arreaza, Executive Vicepresident, and Haiman El Troudi, Minister of Land Transportation, placed the topic on the public agenda. Rafael Ramirez,...