Highlights
Why World Bank's Doing Business Index is flawed
Carlos Slim: world’s richest man no more
Chinese graduates face toughest job market ever
Hungama: Bollywood by mobile
Chart of the week: who’s afraid of a weaker yen?

Daily Archives: Jun 12, 2012

Chavez: back to form?

Jun 12, 2012 10:10pm by Benedict Mander
Share
Share this on

Say what you like about his face looking puffy, perspiry and palid as he registered his candidacy for Venezuela’s October presidential elections on Monday, but at the stump Hugo Chávez looked like his good old tub-thumping self.

After a year’s fight against cancer, Venezuela’s boisterous leader blustered away for almost three hours, which hardly bodes well for those who thought his rival may benefit from a weakened Chávez unable to make the most of his legendary campaigning skills. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in LatAm, Venezuela |

Argentina: dollars curbs and pesification fears

Jun 12, 2012 8:55pm by Jude Webber
Share
Share this on

Argentina’s attempt to duck a scary subject by trying to introduce an important legal reform in a hush-hush way, seems not to have worked out too well.

The subject is pesification – a word guaranteed to send shivers down the spines of Argentines who remember all too well how their decade-long dollar peg was ditched after the country’s $100bn default in 2001, forcing a return to pesos amid a brutal devaluation. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , Posted in Argentina, LatAm |

Greek crisis, Balkan repercussions

Jun 12, 2012 7:30pm by Andrew MacDowall
Share
Share this on

The ongoing crisis in Greece, and the possibility that the country will abandon the euro, is widely seen as presenting an existential threat to the eurozone. But it is also having an impact on Greece’s southeast European neighbours, which are not in the euro but are closely linked to Greece through Greek foreign investment and the financial sector.

But reports differ on the effect of the deepening Greek crisis on the region, and indeed on what would happen in the case of a “Grexit”. The shape and extent of the regional fallout is one of the many “known unknowns” of the unfolding drama. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Albania, Bulgaria, Europe, Romania, Serbia |

China’s mega-cities: expensive, “yes”; pleasant, “no”

Jun 12, 2012 6:40pm by Peter Vanham
Share
Share this on

Contemplating life as an expat in China? Then take a deep breath, get your renminbi ready and be prepared for some serious spending. China isn’t getting any cheaper. Continue reading »

Posted in Asia, China |

Broadband in W Africa: the challenges

Jun 12, 2012 5:42pm by Kimberly S. Johnson
Share
Share this on

West Africa’s mobile phone and data markets are often seen as bright spots in otherwise turbulent economies. But a top regulator in the region says there are still many issues to address before declaring victory in modernising the sector.

Governments, operators and investors need to move beyond the “euphoria” of high penetration rates and realise that ICT (information and communications technology) is about more than having a mobile phone, says Nnamdi Nwokike, executive secretary of the West Africa Telecommunications Regulators Assembly (Watra). Continue reading »

Posted in Africa, Global, Mali, Nigeria, Sierra Leone |

Euro CDS 2012: Czech vs Poland

Jun 12, 2012 3:31pm by Jan Cienski
Share
Share this on

Balcerowicz: envious of the neighbours

Poles have long held a fascination with the next-door Czechs as an exemplar of hard-headed economic virtues that their own more romantic country would be wise to follow – something that arch-reformer Leszek Balcerowicz referred to when calling on countrymen to tackle more reforms, pointing out that Czech borrowing costs were lower than Poland’s.

The latest cost of 5-year credit default swaps (the cost of insuring against default) for the Czech Republic is 127.1 basis points, not far above Germany’s 107.1, while Poland is at 239.7bp (albeit far below Spain and Italy and in a different universe from Greece). Continue reading »

Tags: , , , Posted in Czech Republic, Europe, Poland |

S African debt ready for the WGBI

Jun 12, 2012 1:55pm by Peter Vanham
Share
Share this on

That was quick. Citi has confirmed that come October, South Africa’s governments bonds will be part of Citi’s influential World Government Bond Index. It was only April when South Africa’s inclusion was mooted.

South Africa will be the first ever African country and the fourth emerging market to be included in the index. But the promotion is also significant because it can potentially bring down the cost of borrowing for the country. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Africa, South Africa |

Indonesia acts to stem currency slide

Jun 12, 2012 12:51pm by Ben Bland
Share
Share this on

As the global economic outlook continues to worsen, relatively open emerging markets like Indonesia must strike a balance between supporting growth and maintaining financial stability.

As the eurozone crisis drags on and growth in China and India looks soft, the fear is that all the hot money that flowed into Indonesia over the last few years will just as readily rush back out the door. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Asia, Indonesia |

China’s capital flight: to US real estate

Jun 12, 2012 12:16pm by Pan Kwan Yuk
Share
Share this on

To the rising flow of anecdotal evidence suggesting China’s rich are taking their money out of the country, add this: China is now one of the fastest-growing sources of international buyers for US real estate.

According to a report published by the National Association of Realtors this week, buyers from China and Hong Kong made up the second largest group of foreign buyers of homes in the US in the 12 months to March – behind only Canadians – accounting for $9bn of sales. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Asia, China |

New York headlines

Jun 12, 2012 11:48am by beyondbrics
Share
Share this on

* Hong Kong urged to review dollar peg

* Emerging Stocks Fall From Two-Week High On Europe Debt Concern

* More nations exempt from Iran sanctions

* US team leaves Pakistan without Nato deal Continue reading »

Posted in Global |

India’s GDP: missing something?

Jun 12, 2012 11:03am by Neil Munshi
Share
Share this on

GDP growth can be tricky to measure – especially in India where, as beyondbrics has reported, data collection leaves quite a bit to be desired – so it should perhaps come as no surprise that there are some doubts about the composition of the latest GDP figure.

That could be good news, considering that the 5.3 per cent the economy clocked in the quarter ending in March was the lowest rate in nine years. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Asia, India |

Further reading: looking for inspiration

Jun 12, 2012 10:58am by beyondbrics
Share
Share this on

Tuesday’s picks from the BB team: Chinese inspiration, Indian salvation; The end of the Asian miracle? Learning from Latvia; and how Twitter is pushing Cuban boundaries of freedom. Continue reading »

Posted in Global |

India industry: pointing to a rate cut?

Jun 12, 2012 8:02am by Neil Munshi
Share
Share this on

Well, at least it didn’t contract. That’s about the best that could be said about Indian industrial production in April, which grew just 0.1 per cent, according to data released by the ministry of statistics on Tuesday.

Combined with data last month that showed that the economy grew just 5.3 per cent in the quarter ending in March – a 9-year low – the IP figure only bolsters the case for a rate cut at the Reserve Bank of India’s policy review meeting on next week. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Asia, India |

London headlines

Jun 12, 2012 5:31am by beyondbrics
Share
Share this on

* US to exempt India, not China, from Iran sanctions

* US pulls out of talks with Pakistan

* Saudi Arabia set to clash with Opec over output Continue reading »

Posted in Global |

Brazil: more companies hit the wall

Jun 12, 2012 12:58am by Joe Leahy
Share
Share this on

So Brazil reported its biggest incidence of corporate bankruptcy claims in May since 2009, according to Serasa Experian, the credit bureau.

A cause for panic? No. The absolute numbers are small – 203 companies in all during the month compared with 168 a year earlier and 165 in April. What’s more, the figures fluctuate wildly from month to month, with bankruptcies sometimes falling and sometimes rising year-on-year. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Brazil, LatAm |

BB: time to register

Dear beyondbrics readers,

After more than three years of fully open access, we are taking the step of asking our readers to register on FT.com to read our articles. Beyondbrics will still be free but we'd like to know a bit more about you, our readers. Other FT blogs (including Alphaville) already do the same thing. Registration is active on beyondbrics from May 6.

Many of you are already registered on FT.com, or are subscribers - in which case, if you are logged in to the site you will not notice any difference. Just carry on as before.

For those of you not yet registered, it's a simple process which only takes a few moments.

Reading beyondbrics articles will NOT deduct from your free monthly quota of stories on FT.com.

Many thanks

Stefan Wagstyl, emerging markets editor

Global equities macromap

beyondbrics

The emerging markets hub

About this blog Headlines email Blog guide
News and comment from more than 40 emerging economies, headed by Brazil, Russia, India and China.



'Like' our beyondbrics Facebook page, where we showcase a top story of the day
Sign up for our news headlines and markets snaphot service. We have two emails per day - London and New York headlines (sent at approx 6am and 12pm GMT).

Pretty much everything you need to know about beyondbrics is in our About this site page. But briefly:

To comment, please register for free with FT.com and read our policy on submitting comments.

There is an overall beyondbrics RSS feed, as well as feeds for all our countries, tags and authors. Learn more in our full RSS guide.

All posts are published in UK time.

Get in touch with us - your comments, advice and even complaints. Find out how to contact the team.

See the full list of FT blogs.

BB shortcuts

Regulars Series Archive
Chart of the week
Behind the numbers

Corporate watch
A regular in-depth look at a significant emerging market-based company

The Weekender
Catch up with the week in emerging markets
Hello 2013
Guest posts on the outlook for the year ahead

2012 review
Quiz, charts, most read and more

BB review
An occasional series reviewing books and arts from around the beyondbrics world

Brics at 10
A decade of growth
12 for 2012
Guest writer predictions
2011 review
The year in numbers
The Diaspora Digest
EM diasporas, seen through their community media (Oct-Nov 2011)
Sick brics (Sep 2011)
Brics and mortar (Aug 2011)
Beyondbrics on the beach (Jul-Aug 2011)
China bubble? (June 2011)
Post-election Nigeria (June 2011)
Hey bric spender (Aug 2010)

Emerging markets data

Archive

« May Jul »June 2012
M T W T F S S
 123
45678910
11121314151617
18192021222324
252627282930