Colombia: central bank bumps rates
“Steady as she goes” was the message from the Colombian central bank as it bumped up interest rates by 25 basis points to 4 per cent on Monday. At the same time it will extend through the end of September at least its purchases in auctions of at least $20m a day that had been due to conclude next month.
The market, which has been estimating the base rate to close the year at 4.5 per cent, nodded sagely in assent at Monday’s increase, the fourth in successive months. Continue reading »
Hungary to homeowners: Relax, we got your backs
After months of talks and several false alarms, the Hungarian government and local banks have finally agreed on how to sort out the problems of Magyar householders cursing the banks and the day that they signed up for a foreign-currency loan.
Well, almost – as even Viktor Orban, the Hungarian prime minister, admitted at a joint press conference with the Banking Association on Monday, negotiations are still continuing. Continue reading »
Domodedovo: Another Russian IPO kicks the bucket
Why did Domodedovo pull its initial public offering late last night? This is the question that’s been puzzling emerging market investors as they struggle to make sense of why Moscow’s biggest airport by traffic decided to postpone the listing before it had even begun marketing itself to potential shareholders. Continue reading »
Indians seek out Indonesian coal
India has become increasing dependent on coal to feed its growing energy demands even as the rest of the world weans itself off the fossil fuel to cut carbon emissions.
This year the country will overtake Japan to become the biggest importer of Indonesian coal, according to the Indonesia coal mining association. That’s a significant event: Japan is the world’s biggest importer of coal and traditionally the leading buyer of Indonesian coal. Continue reading »
Sorry Slim, no triple-play for you
When it came, it came in the form of just a few words crammed on to one sheet of paper: Telmex, the Mexican fixed-line and internet provider controlled by Carlos Slim, would not be allowed to offer television services to its 15.6m customers after all.
The government’s decision at the weekend to deny Telmex the possibility of entering the country’s pay TV market is a blow to the world’s richest man and his company. Continue reading »
India must tread carefully in Africa
From Monday’s FT:
India should be no late-comer to Africa. Yet in a modern-day scramble for influence and assets on the continent, New Delhi trails Beijing.
An Indian diaspora is deeply rooted in east and southern Africa. Traders have plied the Indian Ocean for centuries. India, as one of the first colonies to win independence from Britain, gave inspiration to the ambitions of countless African liberation movements and leadership as the world’s largest democracy within the Non-Aligned Movement. Continue reading »
PPF to float Home Credit to fund EM expansion
By business new europe
PPF Group, the investment vehicle of Czech tycoon Petr Kellner, is in the preliminary stages of planning an international IPO of its subsidiary holding Home Credit B.V. (Netherlands), holding company for the group’s consumer finance business in the Czech Republic, Slovakia, the Russian Federation, Kazakhstan and Belarus. The flotation would help finance expansion into Asia and north Africa. Continue reading »
Further reading: It’s a dog eat dog world in China
Monday’s best picks from the beyondbrics team: Why India should take a slowly, slowly approach to developing trade in Africa, what China’s growing animal rights movement tells us about class divide in the country, and India and Brazil take the top spot for….spam. Continue reading »
Renminbi appreciates – but only against weaker dollar
The People’s Bank of China appears to have signalled its intent to guide the currency higher by setting its daily reference rate at a record high on Monday for the third straight time. We’re not talking about massive gains – the renminbi was up a mere 0.06 percent on the day – but the symbolism of the successive records was powerful given that China’s default mode is unremitting gradualism. Continue reading »
New York headlines
* Greece set for sever bail-out conditions
* Russian banks target eastern Europe
* Rolls-Royce pushes into Brazil’s oil sector
* Don’t improvise capital controls, IMF says
* Obama chooses adviser for Moscow envoy role Continue reading »
Corruption in the Philippines, and the cost of fighting it
If there’s a cost to corruption, there’s also a price to pay for fighting it. That is one way of looking at why the Philippine economy grew by a modest 4.9 per cent in the first quarter from a year ago – at the lower end of the government’s target range of 4.8-5.8 per cent and below median analyst forecasts. Continue reading »
A better class of chauffeur for India’s luxury car buyers
India is a lucrative market for luxury car makers. But for India’s luxury car owners, there is a problem: you just can’t get the quality of chauffeur these days.
Wealthy Indians are used to being driven around and as the ranks of the wealthy swell, the problem of recruiting skilled chauffeurs has become increasingly irksome. Now Mercedes, Audi and Honda have teamed up with the Institute of Chauffeur Services (IOCS) to relieve some of the strain. Continue reading »
London headlines
* Don’t improvise capital controls, IMF says
* Obama chooses adviser for Moscow envoy role
* India takes unique path to lower carbon emissions
* Russian banks target eastern Europe Continue reading »
Fund file: Indian mutuals under the cosh
Developed world regulators anxious to clamp down on greedy excesses in the financial industry might do well to consider recent developments in India. There appear to be real problems developing in India’s mutual funds industry and it seems the country’s markets regulator, the Securities and Exchange Board of India, is at least partly to blame, as a report explains in Monday’s FTfm. Continue reading »
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