Turkey’s record-breaking investments: as good as they sound?
At first sight the figures are staggering. In the space of a single day last week Turkey signed an agreement on a $22bn new nuclear power plant and concluded a €22bn tender on building Istanbul one of the biggest airports on the world.
No wonder there were proclamations about record-breaking investments as soon as last Friday’s announcements were made. Continue reading »
Thailand: massive transport spending plan details revealed
It was one of those moments that investors and analysts in Thailand have been waiting for: insight into the government’s massive Bt2,000bn ($68bn) infrastructure spending plan.
But rather than a big press conference, it came in a little-publicised lunch talk by Chadchart Sittipunt, Thailand’s transport minister, to members of the Japan-Thailand Association last Friday. Continue reading »
Russia’s post office: can’t keep up
Ecommerce is booming in Russia as more people hook up to the internet. But a corresponding surge in parcel volumes is straining the the old fashioned postal services to the limit and last week cost the head of the Russian post office his job. Continue reading »
[video] India’s new railways
The railway system in India has fascinated and frustrated its users since Victorian times. Nowadays, the Delhi Metro is touted as a beacon of success in a nation that struggles badly to develop modern infrastructure. The FT’s Amy Kazmin examines whether other cities will be able to copy that success with their own urban transport projects.
Brazil’s infrastructure worst of the Brics? Get real!
Roads in Brazil (top) and India. A fair comparison?
Rankings from the World Economic Forum show Brazil as lagging far behind the Brics countries on almost every aspect of infrastructure – the subject of a beyondbrics Chart of the Week. Er … excuse me? I beg to differ.
Brazil’s infrastructure is poor, even dismal in some cases, but this is more relative to its own needs and its income level as a country with a per capita income level among the Brics second only to Russia. At least in my experience, it is not bad in absolute terms when compared with many other developing countries, particularly those in the poorer parts of Asia, such as India. Continue reading »
Mozambique coal: Nippon steps in
Anglo American may have passed on this one, but Nippon are up for it. Japan’s largest steel company, Nippon Steel and Suminato Metal Corp, was given the go-ahead on Thursday to develop the Revuboè coal project in Mozambique’s Tete province. It now hopes to begin production by 2016, nestled in among other major extractors in one of the world’s most important new mining regions.
The announcement comes little over a week after the London-listed mining giant, Anglo American, said it had dropped plans to acquire a $555m majority stake in the Revuboè venture, which is situated adjacent to Vale’s Moatize mine and Rio Tinto’s Zambezi and Benga mines. Continue reading »
Chart of the week: Brazil’s bottlenecks
Several reasons have been given for Brazil’s economic slowdown: a self-inflicted sudden stop caused by capital controls; currency appreciation, making exports more expensive; and falling demand for commodities, especially from China.
But if Brazil really wants to hold onto its position as a leading emerging market, it must address structural problems, starting with infrastructure and education. And as Chart of the Week shows, it has a lot of ground to make up. Continue reading »
[video] Nigeria’s new ‘express’
The railway linking Lagos, Nigeria’s commercial capital, to Kano, the country’s second largest city, has reopened after more than 10 years thanks to Chinese loans and investment. Xan Rice, the FT’s West Africa correspondent, makes the 31-hour journey and asks whether the train line is a sign of progress in Africa’s second biggest economy.
Philippines’ San Miguel: not as impressive as it seems
San Miguel Corp, the increasingly diversified Philippine conglomerate, surprised on the upside on Thursday by announcing consolidated net income in 2012 of 27.6bn pesos ($677m), up 57 per cent on 2011 and exceeding analysts’ expectations.
It is easy to take the figure as another sign of the success of San Miguel’s daring diversification strategy, in which the 122 year old company has expanded rapidly from its core food and drinks business to take in fuel, power and infrastructure. Continue reading »
World Bank on Indonesia: crying wolf?
Reverse the recent protectionist trend, invest more in infrastructure, improve the quality of policy-making, cut energy subsidies. Even the World Bank admits that it’s starting to sound like a broken record in Indonesia, according to Jim Brumby, its lead country economist.
But, while concerns about complacency undermining Indonesia’s economic boom are not new, the World Bank believes the risks to growth are getting greater. Continue reading »
Bangkok’s election: impossible pledges mask political instability
From London’s Boris Johnson to New York’s Michael Bloomberg, city governors and mayors around the world have proven their roles are as much about power politics and money as they are about getting stuff done.
In Thailand, last week’s hard-fought election for Bangkok’s governor was a battle fought on promises of change – most of which cannot be delivered, say analysts. But what really lay behind the fight was the struggle for power in Thailand between the two main political parties. All the votes are in, but it’s not over yet. Continue reading »
Rwanda plans debut eurobond to plug aid gap
Since getting much of its overseas aid cut off last year, the Rwandan government has faced problems plugging a gap in its budget.
No surprise then that it plans to take advantage of low borrowing costs in international debt markets. President Paul Kagame this week revealed more details of the east African nation’s anticipated debut eurobond issue. Continue reading »
Mozambique: poor infrastructure hits coal industry
Mozambique’s hopes of becoming one of the world’s biggest coal producers seem as distant as ever, with fresh reports of the same old problems emerging. Poor transport infrastructure is hitting the operations of multinationals, who have again been grumbling about the problem – which unfortunately doesn’t look like it will be fixed any time soon. Continue reading »
Correa: spending his way to 3rd term?
Having coffee on the fifth floor of a building in the northern part of Quito can be quite an experience. Your mug (and your chair) will tremble every twenty minutes or so. The reason is not earthquakes, but the roar jets of flights.
All that could change next week. Ecuador’s government is moving the airstrip to a new airport in Tababela, 18km outside the capital’s centre, via a public private partnership deal worth over $600m according to government officials Continue reading »
Russia’s Transneft vs Summa Group: wheels within Dagestani wheels?
Nikolai Tokarev, the president of Transneft, Russia’s state oil pipeline monopoly, rarely gives interviews let alone criticizes the company’s business partners in public. So it’s puzzling to see the former KGB officer airing complaints about the Summa Group, Transneft’s co-shareholder at Novorossiysk Commercial Sea port, Russia’s biggest stevedoring company. Continue reading »
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