Russia’s annual Caucasus military exercises, which began on Monday, carry added significance this year, since Moscow last week suffered a blow to its regional strategy with the near-assassination of the President of Ingushetia, Yunus-Bek Yevkurov.

A bit of background here: Ingushetia is an ethnic republic within Russia, tucked in between Chechnya to its east and North [Read more...]

Personally I thought it would be some time before President Obama was next forced to put his diplomacy skills to the test, but just a few days after condemning the Iranian authorities’ crackdown on protestors, another political crisis is dumped on his doorstep. At first glance, Honduran politics seems like a relative backwater when compared [Read more...]

On June 25, my colleagues at Business Monitor International (BMI) hosted another Country Risk roundtable, dedicating 90 minutes to discussing the outlook for Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) and whether the region will be able to decouple from the global economy. For those interested, the BMI Africa team kindly provided the presentation slides for the event.

As [Read more...]

Most governments around the world seek to maximise economic growth so that their countries can achieve a higher level of development and their citizens can become wealthier. At the same time, they must be mindful that growth does not bring with it inflation. However there is a major exception to these axioms: Japan.

While Japan is [Read more...]

With the economy taking a knock from global headwinds - and President Lula set to leave office in 2010 - can Brazil retain its place amongst the EM elite?

Mark Schaltuper, Latin America country risk analyst at Business Monitor International, explains why he is still excited about the Brazilian growth story, and which are the best [Read more...]

 

 Life After Lula [10:27m]
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My colleagues and I at Business Monitor International (BMI) frequently initiate or exit positions in our in-house mock portfolio, a practice which regular readers of our online service and weekly Emerging Markets Monitor magazine will be familiar with. Today, I shed some light on BMI’s Africa portfolio.

Given the current correction in global stock markets and [Read more...]

Scenario planning is an essential element of risk analysis and management, and my colleagues and I at Business Monitor International constantly have to envisage potential chains of events in economies, financial markets, and the political arena. With this in mind, I thought I’d take the opportunity to comment on a book I read recently: 7 [Read more...]