WASHINGTON | By Pablo Pardo | Geopolitics have returned with a vengeance in Europe right when Barack Obama’s economist view of international relations seemed to be on track with the negotiations for the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) and the Trans-Atlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP). The IMF warns that geopolitical risk is back on stage.
BEIJING |By Gao Yu and Wang Heyan via Caixin | Curiosity is one reason the website of the Central Discipline Inspection Commission (CDIC) attracts up to 2 million page views every day. Another reason is fear. Some website visitors, for example, want to know whether they or anyone they know has been targeted by a government campaign to root out corruption led by the CDIC Inspection Team.
MADRID | The Corner | Will the Japanese Central Bank act again to raise inflation expectations and get inflation to reach its target of 2%? Some analysts believe the BoJ should allow the economy to overheat a little in order to promote higher inflation expectations. “Kuroda is convinced that the country will reach its inflation target of 2% in the FY2015,” experts at JP Morgan pointed out on Thursday, “but the help of the yen’s depreciation is fading since expectations of further monetary expansion are lowering too.”
MADRID | The Corner | The EU released on Wednesday a target to improve energy efficiency by 30% as part of a package of climate and energy policy for 2030, and a measure that some considered “a gift to Mr Putin.” The truth is Europe says it is on the verge to impose sanctions to Russia for the downing of Malaysia Airlines Flight 17, although it has been reluctant to use US-stule sanctions in the past due to its high dependence on Russian gas -see this chart by Statista which shows the deep interconnection-. But there seems to be a way for the Old Continent to wear off any gas cuts if things gets really nasty: liquefied natural gas (LNG). For countries like Spain, it would be a golden opportunity.
BEIJING | By Liu Shengjun via Caixin | When China’s premier Li Keqiang recently met six experts to talk about reforms, he quizzed them on their data and bemoaned slow progress in changing local governments.
MADRID | The Corner | The world’s second economy is entering an enthusiastic summer period, with credit lending indicators rising in June. New loans denominated in yuan grew up by 1.08 bn CNY in China, aggregate financing went up by 1.97 bn CNY and the M2 monetary offer, in 14.7% year on year in June. All these data exceeded market expectations and show that the authorities are favoring the expansion of credit to boost growth.
SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes via Historinhas | This can be inferred from a speech by Rintaro Tamaki, Deputy Secretary-General and acting Chief Economist of the OECD, who for 35 years worked for Japan´s Ministry of Finance: “The chief economist of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, Rintaro Tamaki, recently gave a talk that should be heard by all Japanese economists and policy makers. He observed that the aim of Japanese economic policy is still mainly about strengthening growth.”
By Jean Pisani Ferry via Caixin | Investment in many advanced and emerging economies is down – except in China – but governments around the world can take steps to improve the situation.
MADRID | By Álex García.
SHANGHAI | Op-ed by Hong Hao at Caixin | Relaxing restrictions on property purchases, reintroducing discount mortgages or even further monetary easing are likely, given the importance of the property sector in the economy and its multiplier effects. No one is willing to be held responsible for an ugly crash in China. This is one certainty among the many uncertainties that the market is facing. But nor is anyone willing to inflate the property bubble further.