My colleagues and I have just returned from a research trip to Nigeria with some interesting insights. Generally, business is booming, with a host of banks, private equity funds and corporates reporting strong economic activity. The difficult-to-measure informal sector also seemed to be flourishing, with general commerce looking robust. (Image: Downtown Lagos) Incidentally, opinion seemed… [Read more]
Germany’s general elections on Sunday produced a victory for the Christian Democratic Union (CDU), which now looks set to form a coalition with the centre-right Free Democrats (FDP). The two parties would have a parliamentary majority of 42. This will bring to an end four years of the ‘Grand Coalition’ between the CDU and the… [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… [Read more]
In my opinion, South Africa’s 2009 parliamentary elections have been an extraordinary event in many respects. Perhaps most importantly, the ruling African National Congress (ANC) scored a decisive electoral victory, gaining 65.9% of all votes, with the Democratic Alliance (DA) and the Congress of the People (COPE) clearly trailing behind at 16.7% and 7.4%, respectively…. [Read more]
Following years of intense political infighting within the African National Congress (ANC), which resulted in President Thabo Mbeki getting kicked out and led to the historic establishment of the rival Congress of the People (COPE), South Africa’s parliamentary ballot on April 22 will be the closest-watched election in the country since 1994. In my mind,… [Read more]
I note with some surprise that since Risk Watchdog launched last July, I have never dedicated a post to India. Therefore, I see no better time than the beginning of India’s mammoth general elections to address this shortcoming. Lest anyone forget, India is the largest democracy on Earth, and along with China, one of two… [Read more]
Yesterday brought an interesting series of elections in the German speaking world, with both Austria and Bavaria going to the polls. The results were rather as expected, but both elections point to the increasing difficulty of forming governments with viable parliamentary majorities. Starting in Austria, the era of five-party politics is firmly upon us, with… [Read more]
