Saudi Arabia is facing multiple fronts for potential destabilization. A modern society and wealthy citizenry have depended on millions of skilled and unskilled foreign workers to build infrastructure and keep homes, banks and, restaurants running smoothly. Oil money is also behind tremendous investment in education and other social benefits. Yet fossil fuels are limited. Competition […]
In the debate over the future of China’s growth, one factor typically animates the bulls more than any other: the country’s sheer size. One way or another, this undergirds most optimistic scenarios. China is so big it can absorb years and years of public-works spending without waste becoming a drag. The population is so large, […]
China’s new leaders are talking nice. The country’s “ambitious” reform plans will provide “enormous” opportunities for the world, said premier Li Keqiang on May 27 at a business forum in Berlin, citing plans for industrialization and urbanization, as well as agricultural and technological upgrading. China and the U.S. must“build on past successes and open up new dimensions for the […]
The International Monetary Fund’s 2012 World Economic Outlook provided surprising cause for optimism about economic growth in several African countries. Based on the IMF’s estimates, Business Insider recently profiled 20 countries with the highest projected compounded annual growth rate (CAGR) from 2013 through 2017; ten of them are in sub-Saharan Africa, and two are in North Africa. These statistics […]
At 7.7%, China’s annual GDP growth in the first quarter of this year was slower than many expected. While the data were hardly devastating relative to a consensus forecast of 8.2%, many (including me) expected a second consecutive quarterly rebound from the slowdown that appeared to have ended in the third quarter of 2012. China […]
Fifty years ago, Burma, Sri Lanka, and the Philippines seemed ready to bloom economically. Each was blessed with an excellent resource base and a strong export sector. Burma was the world’s leading rice exporter, Sri Lanka one of the leading exporters of tea (it became the leading exporter in 1965), and the Philippines the second-largest sugar exporter […]
Interestingly, a closer look at Japan’s performance over the past decade suggests little reason for persistent bearish sentiment. Indeed, in terms of growth of output per employed worker, Japan has done quite well since the turn of the century. With a shrinking labor force, the standard estimate for Japan in 2012 – that is, before Abenomics […]
Since the second half of 2012, financial markets have recovered strongly worldwide. Indeed, in the United States, the Dow Jones industrial average reached an all-time high in early March, having risen by close to 9% since September. In Europe, European Central Bank President Mario Draghi’s “guns of August” turned out to be remarkably effective….But this financial market […]
Early this year, China found a missing province, one doing very well for itself. The total GDP for 2012, according to the National Bureau of Statistics, was 51.9 trillion yuan. The total GDP figures of China’s 31 provinces for 2012 added up to 57.6 trillion yuan, giving the phantom 32nd province an annual GDP of 5.7 […]
China’s in deep, deep trouble, and its new leaders know it. The growth of the nation’s GDP has continued to slow every quarter since late 2010—though it did tick up slightly in the state’s latest quarterly report, published in January. But that’s just one of many problems. In the simple words of D&B Country RiskLine […]
looking beyond borders 