Myanmar (or Burma, as many still call it) has long been an economic laggard in Asia. Over the past few decades, virtually every other Asian state has boomed or emerged on investors’ radars in some way – but not Myanmar. The reason is, of course, Myanmar’s pariah status, economic isolationism, and chronic mismanagement. However, recent… [Read more]
In line with our long-held expectations of an enduring economic slowdown in India, the recently-released GDP figure showed a sharp downturn in activity – marking the sixth consecutive quarter where headline expansion has decelerated. Real GDP growth came in at 6.9% y-o-y in the second quarter of the current fiscal year (FY2011/12, April-March), down significantly… [Read more]
Sub-Saharan African assets have not been spared by the weakness that has hit ‘risky’ assets across the board, and my colleagues and I do not think that there is much to like financial market-wise in SSA right at this moment. That said, we are firm believers in the region’s longer-term prospects and we think that… [Read more]
Zambia held its general elections on September 20 2011, in which opposition candidate Michael Sata, from the Patriotic Front political party, emerged victorious. Most analysts were expecting a closely fought battle, but had tipped incumbent President Rupiah Banda to retain his position. Sata’s win poses important questions for Zambia, since his long political career has… [Read more]
Currently, the price of a tablet computer in Brazil is prohibitively expensive for most Brazilians. An Apple iPad 2 in the United States costs US$449, while the same device would cost a Brazilian consumer US$1,049. However, BMI believes this disparity will not exist much longer. The Brazilian government is eliminating a series of taxes on… [Read more]
It has been six months since popular uprisings toppled the presidents of Tunisia and Egypt, and set off a chain of events that brought civil war to Libya, and Syria and Yemen to the brink of collapse. In today’s podcast, Jean-Paul Pigat, Head of Middle East and North Africa Analysis, discusses where the region stands,… [Read more]
I recently visited Zimbabwe, and essentially concluded that the economy is recovering. Traffic in Harare is noticeably busier, even when compared to my last visit in October 2010. Consumers are buying from supermarkets, the shelves of which are stocked with (mainly imported) goods which had been conspicuous by their absence for much of the last… [Read more]
