Institutional Investor (April 23)
“Rate announcements by the Federal Reserve and the Bank of Japan will loom large this coming week as investors consider the alternate reality of negative interest rates. Meanwhile, key economic indicators for onetime BRIC stars Russia and Brazil will arrive as each suffers from the weight of low oil prices and Brazil deals with domestic political intrigue surrounding the impeachment of President Dilma Rousseff.”
Tags: Announcements, BOJ, Brazil, BRICS, Economic indicators, Fed, Impeachment, Negative interest, Oil, Rates, Rousseff, Russia
Bloomberg (August 25)
Despite China’s promising long-term fundamentals, global automakers are facing “an oversupply time bomb” as China’s economy cools. Already, some import car dealers are holding nearly 150 days of supply. “If cutthroat competition for volume sales persists, exacerbated by weakness in the other once-promising BRICS markets, automakers could be headed toward a massive pileup in China.”
Tags: Automakers, BRICS, China, Competition, Economy, Fundamentals, Oversupply, Supply
New York Times (December 6)
“Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria and Turkey — the so-called MINT economies — along with the more developed South Korea,” could surpass Italy, the world’s eighth largest economy, to each contribute 3-5% of global GDP. The MINTs may even give some of the BRICs a run for their money. Jim O’Neil, who coined the term BRIC to refer to Brazil, Russia, India and China, thought each had potential to produce 5% of global GDP. China’s already there and India will be soon, but it’s becoming apparent that Brazil and Russia will struggle without reforms. While the MINTs “have many challenges, they all have exciting potential, and could become mini-giants, if not quite on the scale of some of their well-known BRIC colleagues.”
Tags: Brazil, BRIC, BRICS, China, GDP, India, Indonesia, Italy, Jim O’Neil, Mexico, MINT, Nigeria, Reforms, Russia, South Korea, Turkey
Bloomberg (July 15)
“Cross-border private capital is so readily available for good emerging-market borrowers that multilateral lenders such as the World Bank are having to explain why they’re needed any longer. To justify their existence, they’re trying to recast themselves as repositories of development expertise.” With the BRICS poised to create their own new currency reserve fund and development bank, the proposed institutions look anachronistic. The BRICS just “don’t need their own bank.”
Tags: Borrowers, BRICS, Capital, Cross-border, Currency reserve fund, Development bank, Emerging market, Lenders, World Bank
Time (January 10, 2014)
“Only a short time ago, the world’s emerging markets, especially the BRICs – Brazil, Russia, India and China – were supposed to be the saviors of the global economy…. Now, however, with the opening of 2014, many emerging markets look like they’re the ones that need saving.”
Tags: 2014, Brazil, BRICS, China, Emerging markets, Global economy, India, Russia
The Economist (July 21)
“In the past decade emerging markets have established themselves as the world’s best sprinters. As serial crises tripped up America and then Europe, China barely broke stride…. Lately, though, the sprinters have started to wheeze.” China, India and Brazil have all recently reported weak performance. Russia is the only BRIC with a resilient economy, but this is vulnerable to oil prices. What does the “Great Slowdown” mean for long-term growth and the world economy? The Economist believes, “no crisis looms, but serious concern is justified.”
“In the past decade emerging markets have established themselves as the world’s best sprinters. As serial crises tripped up America and then Europe, China barely broke stride…. Lately, though, the sprinters have started to wheeze.” China, India and Brazil have all recently reported weak performance. Russia is the only BRIC with a resilient economy, but this is vulnerable to oil prices. What does the “Great Slowdown” mean for long-term growth and the world economy? The Economist believes, “no crisis looms, but serious concern is justified.”
Tags: BRICS, Oil, Russia, Slowdown, World economy
Businessweek (March 29)
“Leaders of the biggest emerging markets agreed on steps to increase lending in local currencies to foster trade.” These BRICS economies “accounted for 15 percent of global trade in 2010, up from 3.6 percent in 1990,” with nearly a quarter of world GDP, up from 16% in 2000.“Leaders of the biggest emerging markets agreed on steps to increase lending in local currencies to foster trade.” These BRICS economies “accounted for 15 percent of global trade in 2010, up from 3.6 percent in 1990,” with nearly a quarter of world GDP, up from 16% in 2000.
Bloomberg Markets (November Issue)
The BRICs have been racing ahead, but not all new records are enviable. With over 50 million diabetics, India is now home to more diabetics than any other nation. Over 1 million Indians are expected to die of the disease in 2010, and things are expected to get worse. “As a decade of 7 percent average annual growth lifts 400 million people into the middle class, bodies primed over generations for poverty, malnutrition and manual labor are leaving Indians ill-prepared for calorie-loaded food or the cars, TVs and computers that sap physical activity.”
The Economist (August 12)
Suddenly Europe’s economy looks much stronger than the America’s. The Economist cautions, “it is only a matter of months ago that fortunes were reversed. Then America seemed to be pulling strongly and Europe was the laggard.” Europe’s economy is still fragile, dependent on exports (especially from the BRICS) and, excepting Germany, many European countries still wish they had America’s economy. Moreover, the Economist does not foresee a double-dip recession in the U.S. because of healthy corporate balance sheets and plenty of cash on hand.
Tags: BRICS, Double-dip, Economy, Europe, U.S.