The Economist (January 30)
Nigeria’s President Muhammadu Buhari “is repeating an economic error he made as dictator 30 years ago.” To avoid devaluation, he has instead thrown limits on imports, creating scarcity that “will be even more inflationary. A weaker currency would spur domestic production more than import bans can and, in the long run, hurt consumers less. The country needs foreign capital to finance its deficits but, under today’s policies, it will struggle to get any.”
Tags: Buhari, Capital, Consumers, Currency, Deficits, Devaluation, Dictator, Import bans, Inflationary, Nigeria, Production, Scarcity
Institutional Investor (June 15)
“For economists who complain about the distortions and deficits caused by energy subsidies, 2014 was a godsend.” Over 25 countries made progress in curtailing “their fuel subsidy programs…in favor of aligning domestic prices with global prices. But the recent rebound in oil prices threatens to undo much of that good work.”
Tags: Deficits, Distortions, Domestic prices, Economists, Energy subsidies, Global prices, Oil prices, Rebound
USA Today (November 29)
As the U.S. approaches the fiscal cliff “an alarming number of people…are declaring that going over the cliff wouldn’t be so bad after all.” It would. Congress needs to reach a deal to avoid the fiscal cliff. “While spending cuts and tax hikes are needed to rein in federal deficits, having them kick in all at once would be like a drug overdose that plunges the economy into a new recession, according to the Congressional Budget Office and independent economists.”
Bloomberg (June 11)
CEO Laurence Fink of BlackRock, the world’s largest asset manager with assets of $3.65 trillion, said the U.S. will grow more slowly (2-3% a year) than the global economy (3-5%) for most of a decade. “We will have modest growth for five to 10 years…. If we cut our deficits, I may be wrong, and they [growth figures] might be lower.”
Tags: BlackRock, Deficits, Fink, Global growth, U.S. growth
