Daily Archives: July 15, 2011

Venezuela: Chávez van Gogh

July 15, 2011 7:30 pm by Benedict Mander

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It is well known that Hugo Chávez is a former military man. Many are also aware of his passion for baseball, a career the left-handed pitcher abandoned in order to join the army. But it often goes unmentioned that he is also an enthusiastic painter.

Venezuela’s multi-talented leader clearly wanted to remind the nation of this, as he greeted ministers to a televised cabinet meeting at the presidential palace this morning, while putting the finishing touches to his latest masterpiece. Continue reading »

Tags: Hugo Chávez, politics Posted in Uncategorized, Venezuela | Permalink

CEE banks pass European stress tests

July 15, 2011 6:22 pm by Stefan Wagstyl

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The three central and east European banks included in the European bank stress tests all passed. But it was close.

Hungary’s OTP, Poland’s PKO Bank Polski and Slovenia’s Nova kreditna banka Maribor easily made the grade. But NLB, Slovenia’s largest bank, just scraped through the European Bank Authority’s examination. Austria’s Volksbanken, located just outside emerging Europe, failed – but is reinforcing is capital by selling its international arm to Russia’s Sberbank in a deal consummated (not coincidentally) less than 24 hours before the EBA published its results.

Tags: banking, debt Posted in Europe | Permalink

CEZ v EU: the €800m question

July 15, 2011 5:50 pm by Stefan Wagstyl

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Trouble at CEZ, central Europe’s biggest listed company. European Union anti-trust regulators are to investigate whether the state-controlled Czech power group has been breaking competition rules by allegedly squeezing rivals out of the domestic wholesale market.

Without prejudging the results, the probe is a reminder for the EU’s newish eastern members that the union isn’t only about subsidies and international relations – Brussels has the right to dig deep into the domestic economy. Continue reading »

Tags: energy Posted in Czech Republic | Permalink

Hair care: fringe markets

July 15, 2011 5:30 pm by Akanksha Awal

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By Akanksha Awal and Girija Shivakumar

Indian hair care products are steadily spreading to other emerging markets. Leading the pack are some of India’s best known consumer goods companies that are starting to appear in the streets of Abuja, Rio’s favelas, and the night markets of Jakarta.

Tags: consumption, M&A Posted in India, Indonesia, Nigeria | Permalink

Tackling Colombian corruption: a Sisyphean task?

July 15, 2011 5:00 pm by Naomi Mapstone

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Colombia’s president has stamped on another tentacle of Colombian corruption, ordering the arrest of a dozen tax officials who siphoned off hundreds of millions of dollars.

Juan Manuel Santos says five more officials are still on the run, after authorities unveiled a “parallel office” that authorized value added tax refunds on fake exports. Continue reading »

Tags: corruption Posted in Colombia | Permalink

S Africa strike: grumbling drivers

July 15, 2011 4:30 pm by Andrew England

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For foreign correspondents, the taxi driver is often a useful source of gossip and something of barometer of the political and economic mood of a country.

So this morning as a strike by up to 70,000 petroleum, chemical, paper and other workers entered its fourth day it was interesting to hear the views of the cabbie who took me to the office. Continue reading »

Tags: labour disputes Posted in Africa, South Africa | Permalink

Brazil’s credit bubble: getting scary

July 15, 2011 3:56 pm by Jonathan Wheatley

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There was quite a debate here on beyondbrics last week about whether or not Brazil has got itself into a credit bubble. On balance, the consensus was that the banking system isn’t heading into a crisis, but consumers are overstretched – and that this is a real threat to growth.

It looks as though investors agree. After the break is a chart showing the performance of Itaú Unibanco’s shares over the past year. Continue reading »

Tags: banking, Brazil credit bubble, consumption Posted in Brazil, LatAm | Permalink

Sberbank: what next after Austria?

July 15, 2011 3:21 pm by Courtney Weaver

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All in all, it’s been a pretty good 24 hours for Sberbank (SBER03:MCX). On Thursday night in Vienna the Russian state lender signed an agreement to buy Volksbank International, the East European arm of Oesterreichische Volksbanken, while a mere 12 hours later it was lauded by Renaissance Capital in a note titled “10 pictures why [we feel Sberbank is such an attractive banking asset]“.

Analysts are still unsure about whether the VBI acquisition will end up being a good move for Sberbank or not. But they are in agreement about one thing: what the bank must get right is its forthcoming global share sale. Continue reading »

Tags: banking Posted in Russia | Permalink

Indonesia: the new safe haven?

July 15, 2011 2:51 pm by Anthony Deutsch

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Just when it seemed that no market was safe from global events, Jakarta’s composite index managed to close at a gravity-defying all-time high on Friday. While most of the world’s markets are in the grip of uncertainty amid tepid US economic recovery, a looming US debt crisis and eurozone jitters, the Jakarta stock exchange continued its inexorable ascent, closing up 0.6 per cent at 4,023.202.

Not bad performance, but is it sustainable? Continue reading »

Tags: equities, FDI Posted in Indonesia | Permalink

If Rome burns, Belgrade gets singed

July 15, 2011 1:57 pm by Neil MacDonald

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The Italian prime minister, Silvio Berlusconi, cancelled his visit to Serbia on Friday on short notice to put his own country’s finances into order.

He had been meant to headline an Italian-Serbian business forum – an event eagerly anticipated in Belgrade, partly for Berlusconi’s celebrity presence and partly for the attention he would draw to Fiat, the Turin-based car maker, which, after long delays, looks set to get production going in a big way in Serbia this year. Continue reading »

Tags: debt, investment Posted in Serbia | Permalink

Fund flows: EM remains a safe haven but investors stay near the exit

July 15, 2011 1:17 pm by Jonathan Wheatley

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The northern hemisphere summer season is almost upon us but investors are still putting money into EM funds, according to the latest numbers from EPFR, the Boston-based fund tracker. But they are spreading their risk – and there’s a suggestion they are making sure they can dump it in a hurry. Continue reading »

Tags: EPFR, fund flows Posted in Global | Permalink

New York headlines

July 15, 2011 12:01 pm by beyondbrics

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* S Korea cuts 2011 growth forecast

* Russia’s Sberbank agrees to buy E. Europe peer VBI

* Huarong buys into Chinese broker as consolidation begins

* China’s foreign investment rises to $60.9bn

* Argentina restricts foreign trade

* ICE buys into Brazilian clearing firm Continue reading »

Posted in Global | Permalink

China’s pork-flation problem

July 15, 2011 11:34 am by Leslie Hook

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To understand China’s battle with inflation, consider the pig: Chinese eat about half a grown hog on average every year, making China the world’s biggest consumer of pork. However pork prices have soared 40 per cent since the beginning of the year, which has been a big contributor to inflation, which hit a three-year peak last month. Continue reading »

Tags: food prices, inflation Posted in China | Permalink

Humala, Chávez and Chavismo

July 15, 2011 10:57 am by Naomi Mapstone

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Hugo Chávez has kept an uncharacteristically low profile while battling cancer, but the irrepressible Venezuelan leader is once again receiving visitors.

First on the list is Ollanta Humala, Peru’s president-elect, who is due to meet his one-time role model on Friday. Peruvians – and foreign investors – will be keen to see how loyal Humala still is to Chávez’s “Bolivarian revolution”, given his more recent enthusiasm for “Lulismo” – the social reform pioneered by former Brazilian president Luiz Inácio Lula de Silva. Continue reading »

Tags: economy, Hugo Chávez, politics Posted in Peru, Venezuela | Permalink

beyondbrics

Daily Archives: July 15, 2011

Venezuela: Chávez van Gogh

CEE banks pass European stress tests

CEZ v EU: the €800m question

Hair care: fringe markets

Tackling Colombian corruption: a Sisyphean task?

S Africa strike: grumbling drivers

Brazil’s credit bubble: getting scary

Sberbank: what next after Austria?

Indonesia: the new safe haven?

If Rome burns, Belgrade gets singed

Fund flows: EM remains a safe haven but investors stay near the exit

New York headlines

China’s pork-flation problem

Humala, Chávez and Chavismo

Further reading: China on media morals

Global equities macromap

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