By Nouriel Roubini Recent market volatility – in emerging and developed economies alike – is showing once again how badly ratings agencies and investors can err in assessing countries’ economic and financial vulnerabilities. Ratings agencies wait too long to spot risks and downgrade countries, while investors behave like herds, often ignoring the build-up of risk … Continue reading
By Miguel Ferreyra de Bone Following the decision of the Chinese government to trim interest rates and adjust the requisites of bank reserves for commercial banks, we are starting to see some improvement from the 20% loss in the Shanghai stock exchange last week. More losses in emerging markets should be expected, however. The financial turmoil that the … Continue reading
By Ashoka Mody Finance Minister Arun Jaitley and Reserve Bank Governor Raghuram Rajan have been quick to declare that India is well-protected from the global turmoil. It is their job to soothe investor and public nerves. And the large foreign exchange reserves are a defense against a flight of funds from India. But this is not … Continue reading
By Mahdi Darius Nazemroaya The Chinese are in the process of displacing the monopoly of the US dollar. They are dropping their US Treasury bonds, stockpiling gold reserves, and opening regional distribution banks for their own national currency. This will give them easier access to capital markets and insulate them from financial manipulation by Washington and … Continue reading
By Daniel Schearf Russia’s auto industry appears to be in reverse along with the contracting economy and sliding ruble. At the opening of the International Moscow Automotive Forum this week, a Russian business association representative spoke openly about the crisis facing industry leaders, his concern echoing industry insiders who say the country relies too heavily on … Continue reading
The volatility that’s now shaking the global financial system seems likely to have some of its most profound effects on the world’s emerging markets and developing economies (EMDEs). As policymakers seek to ride out the late-summer storm, it’s more vital than ever for economists and investors to understand how and why those economies got into … Continue reading
“The world’s biggest money manager said Brazil must do all that it takes to maintain its investment-grade credit rating if it wants to remain an attractive destination for foreign capital,” Bloomberg reports. Although BlackRock claims it wants to promote Brazil, most of its clients refuse to allocate towards this destination as the country remains at … Continue reading
By Michael Snyder On Wednesday we witnessed the third largest single day point gain for the Dow Jones Industrial Average ever. That sounds like great news until you realize that the two largest were in October 2008 – right in the middle of the last financial crisis. This is a perfect example of what I … Continue reading
Emerging Market (EM) fixed-income funds saw: the 2nd-largest weekly outflow recorded at $4.2 billion in the week ending Aug. 26, and overall EM net outflows of $10.5 billion in the past week are the largest since early 2008, Dimitra DeFotis from Barron’s reports. According to Morgan Stanley: Outflows have sharply accelerated in recent weeks and emerging market … Continue reading
By Abhijit Singh One of the more interesting aspects of Asian maritime politics is the Russia-China naval relationship. Both are major maritime powers with considerable stakes in regional security. Like Beijing, Moscow has sought to safeguard its maritime interests in strategically vital spaces in the Asia-Pacific by initiating a military modernisation programme aimed at projecting a … Continue reading