Country Briefings articles from March 2005

Country Briefings archives from March 2005

Argentina: GDP Growth of 8.8% in 2004 Beats Forecast.
March 10, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: Government data showed that farm exports in 2004 surged by 14% from a year earlier to US$13.5bn, following strong sales of wheat, beef, poultry and dairy products. The national food and animal health...

Brazil: IMF Recommends Approval for Loan Accord.(International Monetary Fund)
March 10, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: During 2004 inflation rose by 7.6%, missing the 5.5% target (the fifth year in six that the target was exceeded), eroding investor confidence in the central bank's estimates. According to the...

Canada: High Domestic Demand Offsets Fall in Exports.
March 10, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: In 2004 farm revenue increased by 7.5%, compared with 2003, following a rebound in crop production after two years of drought. Last year revenue collected by ranchers and farmers increased to...

Czech Republic: Benchmark PX50 Hits Record High.
March 10, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: According to the Czech Statistical Office (CSU), for the first time in 16 months industrial producer prices (PPI) posted a decline in December falling 0.3% month-on-month. The reduction was...

Germany: The Number of Unemployed Hits a New Post-War High.
March 10, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: Despite the surge of the euro (which strengthened 7.7% against the US dollar last year), exports to the US in 2004 increased 5.1% compared to 2003, according to the German Federal Statistics Office....

Hong Kong: HK Chief to Quit Early.
March 10, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: The Hong Kong Monetary Authority increased its interest rate by a quarter of a percentage point to 4% after the U.S. Federal Reserve raised its base interest rate. According to a survey by Hong...

Indonesia: Strong Consumer Spending Boosts Economic Growth.
March 10, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: The government is set to reduce unemployment in the country to less than 6% in five years from the current level 9-10%, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said. Fitch Ratings in January upgraded...

Malaysia: Analysts Lift 2005 Growth Forecasts.
March 10, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: By the end of December around 14.6 million people, or 58% of the country's population, became active mobile phone users and analysts expect the saturation point to be reached soon. Industry experts...

New Zealand: NZ$ Hits 22-Year High Against US$.
March 10, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: According to Statistics New Zealand (SNZ), for the year ended December 31st exports rose 8% y-o-y to NZ$30.73bn while imports were up nearly 10% to NZ$34.91bn, leaving a trade deficit of NZ$4.18bn....

Peru: Economy Grows at Fastest Rate in Seven Years in 2004.
March 10, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: On March 3rd the Central Reserve Bank of Peru left unchanged its key reference rate at 3.0% for open market monetary operations. The central bank increased its reference rate twice in 2004, in August...

Singapore: Retail Sales Fall amid Slowing Economic Growth.
March 10, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: The Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) said that in 2004 private home prices rose for the first time in five years, edging up 0.9%. The government's real estate planning body said that the official...

Sri Lanka: Stock Market One of the Top Performing Exchanges Worldwide.
March 10, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: The central bank has maintained its GDP growth forecast for 2004 at 5.4% although growth is estimated to slow to 4.9% in 2005. Tourism and agriculture are expected to slow following the Tsunami...

Taiwan: 2004 GDP Expands at Fastest Rate in Seven Years.
March 10, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: According to the latest government statistics, the machinery industry in 2004 is estimated to have expanded by 11.2% from a year earlier in production value to T$501.4bn (US$15.7bn). In 2004...

United Kingdom: Bid Speculation Fuels Stock Market.
March 10, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: Factory production in the UK rose by 0.6% in December, twice as fast as economists had predicted, helped by rising global demand for manufactured goods. These higher levels of goods for export helped...

Australia: Central Bank Raises Benchmark Interest Rate.
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: In the fourth quarter of 2004 the current account deficit and net foreign debt surged to record levels. The current account deficit rose 6% to A$15.174bn, higher than market forecasts of A$14.2bn,...

Chile: Largest Budget Surplus in Eight Years.
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: The Central Bank decided to raise its benchmark interest rate on February 10th by 0.25% to 2.75%, citing stronger-than-expected economic expansion. The Central Bank began a monetary tightening cycle...

China: China Looks to Alternative Energy Sources ?
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: The state is to raise power prices come March or April to help power firms cope with rises in coal prices. Sources report that the electricity rate may rise by CNY0.01-0.02 (0.12-0.24 US cents) per...

France: New Finance Minister Pledges to Keep Public Spending Under Control.
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: The French car makers' association, Comite des Constructeurs Francais d'Automobiles (CCFA) said that car sales increased by 3.1% in February compared to a year earlier, as foreign car makers had...

India: Budget Gives Boost to Rural Poor.
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: The government presented its 2005/06 budget on February 28th. The central themes of the budget were the continued growth of the Indian economy (GDP of 7%-8% for 2005/06), led by the service sector,...

Israel: Cabinet Votes for Disengagement.
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: Bank Leumi is to be privatised. A seven to one vote in the social welfare and economic cabinet on 22nd February set the process going. There will be a distribution of shares to the public but the...

Japan: Changes at Japan Inc.
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: The ongoing saga over maverick Internet firm Livedoor's attempt to launch a hostile takeover of Japan's largest media conglomerate, Fuji Sankei Group, has also ruffled government feathers. The...

Mexico: Exports to US Lose Ground to China.
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: According to the AMIA industry group, auto production increased by 9.2% from a year earlier. In February the AMIA said that exports rose by 2.2% y-o-y. In February the number of jobs added...

Pakistan: KSE-100 Crosses Historic 10,000 Points.
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: In February the consumer price index (CPI) increased 9.95% y-o-y, the highest inflation rate since September 1997 when the rate was 10.29%. The government has set a 5% target for consumer inflation...

Philippines: Moody's Downgrades Credit Rating.
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: Economic growth exceeded the government's original target of 4.9%-5.8% in 2004 by expanding 6.1%, its fastest pace of expansion in 15 years. Government economists said that the growth was broad-based...

Poland: World Bank Supports Government's EU Position.
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: At the end of February the central bank kept interest rates unchanged at 6.4% and the committee indicated that it had moved from a 'tightening bias' to an 'easing bias'. According to a World...

Russia: Structure of Gazprom and Rosneft Finally Revealed.
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: There has been continued ambiguity concerning the state of the Russian economy and in particular the inflation target for the year. In February Economy Minister Andrei Sharonov announced that the...

South Korea: Oil Price Rise Hits Stock Market.
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: On 28th February Minister of Finance and Economy Lee Hun-jai announced the creation of a Won1 trillion (US$998m) fund of funds to provide venture capital to start-up companies and help create new...

Switzerland: Social Democratic Party Votes to Back EU Accords.
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: The government agreed to distribute Sfr21bn in proceeds from gold bullion sales over the past five years, breaking months of embarrassing political deadlock. Representatives of the country's 26...

Thailand: Improving Tourism Should Help Current Account.
March 31, 2005... Byline: BARRY WHEELOCK The Economy: A survey by the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce showed that consumer confidence fell to 88.7 in February, from 90.9 in January, weakened by an increase in oil prices, the December 26th...