Today, in Business Monitor Online: Governments across the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are facing a massive demographic challenge as large, rapidly growing young populations enter the workforce over the coming years. Failure to invest in labour-intensive infrastructure projects or make necessary reforms to employment law in an effort to stimulate job creation could… [Read more]

Yesterday, my colleagues and I wrote about the domestic implications of Japan’s earthquake. Today, we look at some of the more salient external ramifications: Downside Risks For Base Metals… Base metals continue to correct in line with the view our Commodities team presented last week, but the earthquake in Japan has added additional downside pressure… [Read more]

China’s 12th Five Year Plan announced this month contains few surprises. The bulk of the targets for the 2011-2015 period set out for different industries have already been leaked over previous months. If anything, the government’s economic strategy as laid out in the new plan justifies Business Monitor International’s expectation that there will be an… [Read more]

Qatar’s successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup is a positive development, which will increase the country’s international exposure, provide a significant boost to the development of the non-hydrocarbon sector of the economy, and also help improve investor risk perceptions of the country. Moreover, this is also an additional step towards fulfilling the country’s… [Read more]

Global consumption of building materials is likely to experience a slowdown in 2011 as China’s appetite for products such as cement and steel weakens. While non-China emerging markets (EM) should see demand for building materials accelerate over the next twelve months, an increasingly uncertain outlook in mature markets (and Europe especially) combined with a cooling… [Read more]

Mexico’s Cemex, one of the top three cement producers in the world, has reported disappointing H1 2010 results, posting a net loss of US$642mn for the period. Although the results offer little in the way of optimism for the performance of the construction industry, they do align well with the BMI infrastructure team’s core views… [Read more]

The world’s largest manufacturer of construction equipment, Caterpillar, has announced impressive Q2 2010 results, with net profit almost doubling compared to Q2 2009 as a result of strong sales and revenues growth. Increased demand for machinery was the underlying growth driver, with cost-cutting boosting the bottom line. The company is often considered a bellwether for… [Read more]