Policy & Government
Mexico Navigates External Challenges in Race to Impress Investors
Mexico’s economy has been on a rollercoaster ride over the past year. It saw budding progress from the reforms of the previous three years emerge early on, only to be bashed and beaten from all sides by the bearish sentiment around emerging markets stemming from the rise of Donald Trump. In recent months, however, economists have observed, with much relief, that the economy is beginning to…
5 Sept 2017
Industrial Action Threatens Reforms, Economic Performance Across Latin America
As Latin America’s political leaders are forced to enact painful reforms to put region back on a path to growth, some are concerned that social discontent could hold them back.
1 Sept 2017
Middle East Credit Markets Brief: 17 August – 31 August
Saudi Arabia auctions local sukuk – Qatar growth to slow down – Warba Bank to make its debut in the loan market – Egypt sells EUR659.9mn worth of T-bills – Qatar keeping tabs on partners spooked by boycott - Iran gets credit line from South Korea’s Exim Bank – SMC secures a USD728mn credit facility – Iraq to get a loan from France
31 Aug 2017
Latin America Credit Markets Brief: 17 August – 30 August
Britain plans to double trade with Panama and Colombia – El Puerto de Liverpool tapped the local markets with a MXN10bn dual tranche bond – BNDES to transfer funds back to the government – Vale redeems 2019 notes – Argentina to tap the international markets again – Argentina holds rates – Crystallex to seize PDVSA assets –– Chile’s outlook gets downgraded – Jamaica to tap its 2028 and 2045 notes
30 Aug 2017
A Brazil Disconnected?
Despite lots of talk about the congressional support for Michel Temer, the situation has not been favourable for the fiscal agenda. Since the approval of the constitutional amendment establishing the spending cap, where important work was done by its rapporteur in the Chamber, Deputy Darcísio Perondi, no other matter for adjusting the public accounts has made significant progress.
29 Aug 2017
Africa Credit Markets Brief: 9 August – 23 August
NDB to lend US$1.5bn to South Africa – Standard Bank of South Africa to issue its first international bond in a decade – Lagos state issued a NGN85.1bn dual-tranche bond – Kenya to float T-bills – Eximbank USA gives Cameroon a CFA26bn loan –Ghana to cut spending in 2017 – Angola gets downgraded – Gabon places a US$200mn Eurobond – Moody’s slashed Tunisia’s credit rating
23 Aug 2017
Exchanges Play a Crucial Role in Developing the Sustainable Finance Market
Stock exchanges play a crucial role as an intermediary between investors and issuers, but their role in the sustainable finance market – as platform and infrastructure providers, as facilitators of cross-market standards development, and as educators bringing visibility to new asset classes – is so much wider than that. We speak with Robert Scharfe, CEO of the Luxembourg Stock Exchange, a leader…
22 Aug 2017
Capital Market Reform: An Outstanding Bill for Argentina’s Economy
Argentina’s local markets have trailed behind its South American peers for years, and president Mauricio Macri’s ambitious reform package aims to change that; it will depend, however, on him securing enough political capital in October’s midterm elections to pass the legislation through Congress first.
21 Aug 2017
Middle East Credit Markets Brief: 3 August – 17 August
Middle Eastern air carriers’ passenger growth disappoint – Goldman Sachs bough a piece of Aramco’s credit facility – Saudi Arabia mulls local sukuk – TAQA to refinance US$500mn bond - Doha Bank to sell UAE credit assets – Egypt’s FDI hit US$48.7bn – Bahrain picks banks for US bond – Iraq bond issuance received US$6.6bn in orders – Jordan might tap the international markets in 2017
17 Aug 2017
Benefits, Standards, and Price Harmonisation in the Sustainable Finance Market
MUFG has a wealth of expertise in energy and natural resource infrastructure finance, which lends itself quite nicely to understanding how to measure risk in areas ripe for green bonds and similar instruments, and the bank is of course very active in bringing borrowers into the green bond market. We speak with Geraint Thomas, Executive Director at MUFG and leader of the bank’s green capital…
11 Aug 2017