On Friday I outlined how the economic problems in Latvia were impacting upon the political scene. So, as I glanced around the crisis-hit countries of Europe for signs of social and political changes, I chanced upon recently released Icelandic immigration figures, which show a massive turnaround in local migration trends occurred in 2008. Immigration fell… [Read more]
At a recent eastern European banking sector conference, I was struck by the lack of doom and gloom among many of the fellow delegates. Yes, there was expressed concern about falling share prices and declining asset growth, but there was also an almost mantra-like quality about the way I was repeatedly told: ‘the fundamentals are… [Read more]
In its continuing search to make sense of financial market meltdowns, the Watchdog has detected a pattern in the ongoing crisis: islands are getting hit the hardest. New Zealand (actually two big islands), the home of the kiwi and of the carry trade, is officially in recession. Japan (an archipelago) has been in trouble for… [Read more]