This report updates the monthly seasonal patterns of 31 major Nominal Effective Exchange Rates (NEERs) going back to January 2010, using over two million daily data points with trade-weights derived from the BIS (April 2019) and national central banks (see Nominal Effective Exchange Rates: Monthly seasonal patterns, 10th January 2019).… Read the rest
President Sergio Mattarella will meet the Speaker of the Chamber of Deputies, Roberto Fico, this evening (2 February). Recall that last week, Fico was tasked by Mattarella to lead the efforts to find a compromise between the parties that supported the last government led by Prime Minister Giuseppe Conte.… Read the rest
On Tuesday, 2 February, Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga announced that he would extend the state of emergency scheduled to end on 7 February by one month, to 7 March. Although case numbers have fallen since the state of emergency was first declared in early January, the government remains concerned about the strain on the medical system imposed not only by overall case numbers but also by elevated numbers of severe cases.… Read the rest
Below is this year’s first summary table on the health and economic policies that selected governments around the world are implementing to counter the fallout from Covid-19. The updated table includes information about each country’s vaccination strategy. Please do not hesitate to contact us if you want to discuss any of the countries mentioned in more detail.… Read the rest
Late on 1 February, on the day when the first 1mn Covid-19 vaccines had arrived in the country, President Cyril Ramaphosa was able to deliver somewhat better news around the vaccine rollout. Around 40mn-50mn vaccine doses now seem to be in the pipeline (which could represent a significant portion of the target required).… Read the rest
Prime Minister Jean Castex announced on 29 January that the government would not impose the widely expected third nationwide lockdown to limit the spread of Covid-19 infections. President Emmanuel Macron’s last-minute U-turn, which goes against his scientific advisors’ opinion, reflects growing fears about “lockdown fatigue” and the country’s economic prospects in 2021.… Read the rest
For the first time since the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) came to power in 2014, the government has presented a budget that has drawn praise from all sections of stakeholders across India’s diverse political economy, barring opposition parties. However, there are doubts about how much the budget will achieve.… Read the rest