Posts Tagged ‘Economy’
Thu Mar 4, 2010 17:39 UTC |
Having just returned from my latest business trip to Dubai, I have to report that confidence in general remains very subdued. For sheer tragic parade-raining, bubble-bursting symbolism, you can’t beat the Burj Khalifa tower (renamed at the last minute to appease the neighbours and then closed soon after opening for ‘technical reasons’ – for three [Read more...]
Tags: Burj Khalifa, Dubai, Dubai World, Economy, Gulfood, population
Posted in: Emerging Europe, Equities, Financials, General, Middle East
Wed Feb 3, 2010 15:01 UTC |
There are growing indications that the Iranian banking system is in crisis, weighed down by a proliferation of non-performing loans. Although there is no timely financial reporting to speak of in Iran, a number of recent news stories suggest to me that the country’s banks are in a great deal of trouble.
Central Bank of [Read more...]
Tags: banking sector, crisis, Economy, financial stability, Iran
Posted in: Financials, General, Middle East, Political Risk
Tue Jan 26, 2010 16:14 UTC |
The Republic of Congo’s unrated US$ 2029 sovereign bond is now trading at an all-time high, reflecting the strength of global risk sentiment in general, and the appetite for African fixed income instruments in particular. While I don’t see any fundamental reason for the instrument to continue rising, I do think its recovery bodes well [Read more...]
Tags: Add new tag, Africa, Bonds, Economy, Fixed Income, Republic of Congo
Posted in: Africa, General
Fri Jan 8, 2010 9:46 UTC |
Having returned from a week-long trip to Cambodia (and several other Southeast Asian countries) during Christmas, I was pleased to find that the two cities that I visited there – Phnom Penh (the capital) and Siem Reap – appear to be relatively prosperous. I acknowledge that my perceptions of Cambodia are probably skewed given that [Read more...]
Tags: Cambodia, Economy, hotels, Phnom Penh, Siem Reap, Tourism
Posted in: Asia, General
Wed Nov 18, 2009 17:09 UTC |
Cautious appears to be the best way to describe sentiment among Mexico City’s executives and bureaucrats at present, or at least that was the feeling Risk Watchdog came away with after spending a week on the ground there. This is not surprising, given the severity of the blow to Mexico’s economy from the recent downturn. [Read more...]
Tags: banking sector, competitiveness, Economy, export dependency, Hugo Chavez, maquila, mexico, Politics, re-exports, sovereign downgrade, US economic weakness
Posted in: Commodities, Financials, Latin America, Political Risk
Thu Nov 12, 2009 17:37 UTC |
US President Barack Obama, en route to ‘Asia’ (I use the speech marks, because Asia is so diverse and it is inaccurate to consider it a single entity), has no shortage of issues to deal with when he gets there. There seems to be a general feeling that US influence in Asia is on the [Read more...]
Tags: ASEAN, Asia trip, Barack Obama, China, Economy, exchange rate, influence, integration, Japan, Singapore, South Korea, Southeast Asia, surplus, Trade
Posted in: Asia, China, General, Geopolitics, Political Risk, US
Wed Oct 28, 2009 17:34 UTC |
On Tuesday Risk Watchdog attended Ecuadorean President Rafael Correa’s exposition of the ‘The international economy, and the process of the citizen’s revolution in Ecuador’ at the London School of Economics. Or at least that was the title of his talk. Disappointingly there was very little description of how the citizen’s revolution is progressing in present [Read more...]
Tags: Citizen's Revolution, Economy, Ecuador, foreign reserves, Latin America, LSE, Politics, Rafael Correa, US dollar
Posted in: Latin America