Africa’s top 40 companies are emerging as competitors on the global stage, propelled by economies whose performance now rivals the Bric nations, according to new research by the Boston Consulting Group, writes William Wallis in Casablanca .
Argentina set to pay the price of high wage settlements
Are Argentina’s authorities slowly waking up to the problem of inflation?
As unions have recently achieved wage rises of as much as 43 per cent, stoking fears that inflation is spiraling – contradicted, of course, by official data which are universally ignored – the central bank now seems to be keen to push rates higher to combat price rises
Mexico City’s breath of fresh air
Travelling by Metro in Mexico City is about to get a lot more comfortable.
In the coming weeks, the city’s transport authorities will start a pilot programme to install air-conditioning in trains running along Line 7. The idea is gradually to spread the scheme to the rest of the network, which transports about 5m people every weekday.
Guest Post: What is the right price of oil for Russia?
From Christopher Weafer, chief strategist, Uralsib Capital
The principal objective of the Russian government’s modernisation programme is to wean the economy off oil dependency and to reduce fiscal vulnerability to sharp oil price moves. To do that, the state needs to use its own resources and to attract in foreign investors to help develop a new and diversified industrial base.
For that to work, the oil price needs to stay close to the current price for many years. The best long-term growth opportunities are in industries outside of natural resources but the key to unlocking those opportunities will remain the price of oil.
Roubini voices caution about Brazil’s speedy growth
Nouriel Roubini has become the latest economist to call for fresh capital controls in Brazil to prevent further appreciation of the country’s currency, the real, which is widely regarded as overvalued.
Roubini – famous for being one of the few economists to foresee the global financial crisis – told a conference in São Paulo today the high value of the real was damaging Brazil’s export competitiveness. “If capital controls were used intelligently, it would be possible to avoid a greater evil,” he said.
Nvidia chief predicts rise of the tablets
Computex, the world’s second-biggest IT trade fair, does not officially start until Tuesday but the hype surrounding which tablet computer will challenge the iPad as the hottest product of the year is already in full swing, writes Robin Kwong in techblog.
Jen-hsun Huang, the chief executive of Nvidia, the specialist graphics card company that also supplies chips for tablet PCs, kicked things off with a prediction that within five years “tablets will be the world’s biggest computing category”. Huang said tablets may even surpass netbooks and notebook PCs in terms of volume.
Wen Jiabao calls for “active use” of Japan-China hotline, but will he use it?
As many a mother has told her grown-up offspring, it’s not enough just to have a phone — you have to be willing to use it too.
Children keen to escape parental clutches may generally be unmoved by such reminders, but at least Wen Jiabao, Chinese premier, is signaling greater willingness to pick up the phone when it comes to keeping in touch with leaders in neighbouring Japan.
Beijing warns of agricultural speculators who hoard with ‘evil intent’
It seems the Chinese housing bubble is at the root of all the country’s problems, even the rising price of vegetables.
Officials from China’s powerful state planning agency, the National Development and Reform Commission, are blaming “speculative capital” escaping from real estate and the stock market for rapid price rises in agricultural produce such as rice, corn, garlic, mung beans and ginseng.
New York headlines
*South Korea’s Hynix raises 2010 spending
*Honda urges Chinese workers to avoid strikes
*Mukesh Ambani may buy MF firm
*Goldwind to raise to $1.2bn HK IPO
*Anil Ambani forms JV with America’s CBS
*China postpones CDS launch
*ArcelorMittal plans India power venture
*Tropical storm Agatha kills 96 in Guatemala
*Miners want more iron ore price rises
*Modernisation ends Delhi’s tongawallahs
*China pension fund plans hedge fund
*S Korea calls for permanent currency swaps
*Kaiser, Caldwell acquire stake in BSE
*Markets mixed
Asia markets wrap: continued risk aversion in region
Stocks in the region were mixed Monday with Asian currencies down, inflamed by continuing Europe debt woes as investors move from risky assets. Chinese premier Wen Jiabao’s warning, that with sovereign debt risk high the global economic growth would be vulnerable to another dip, helped to damp sentiment in the region. Equities and currencies were still suffering from Fitch’s Spanish rating cut on Friday from AAA to AA+, on concern that its debt burden would drag down global growth. Chinese property shares were hit by China’s State Council approval of incremental property tax reform.
Investor flight from riskier assets was also felt by Asian currencies as they made their biggest decline since February 2009, with the won leading the fall.
Guest Post: Buckle up, India is flying
By Frederic Neumann, co-head of Asian economics research at HSBC
Ok, buckle up
India’s first quarter GDP is up sharply.
Forget talk about drought and global financial jitters. India’s economy is shaking off such obstacles with apparent ease. Output expanded briskly in the first quarter of this year, and the economy grew more rapidly late last year than initially estimated. Investment and manufacturing have powered the expansion so far, with consumption and services still lagging the advance. The details suggest that growth could be stronger still in the coming quarters, lending yet more urgency to rate hikes by the RBI.
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