MADRID | By Jaime Santisteban | The Washington-based institution believes Spain has turned the corner and “the recovery reflects the collective efforts of Spanish society,” highlighting fiscal, banking and labour reforms. Forecasts (a 1.2% GDP hike this year and 1.6% in 2015) respond to the significant improvement of the country’s economy since the beginning of the year, surpassing government and experts’ estimates.
WASHINGTON | By Pablo Pardo | Mark Zandi is chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, the department in charge of consulting, advising and providing services for businesses and financial institutions. Among its many activities, the firm advices several European banks with regard to the EBA’s and ECB’s stress tests. Moody’s created this department in 2007, after buying Economy.com –Zandi’s analysis company.
COPENHAGUEN | By Peter Lundgreen via Caixin | In China, the right phone app can get 30 to 40 million users in six to 12 months. The focus on exporting goods to this market ignores the contributions Europeans could make in the dynamic tech sector.
MADRID | The Corner | Inflation in Brazil hit the upper limit of the government’s target for the first time in a year in June: consumer prices rose by 6.52% yoy (IPCA index), airlines’ fares skyrocketed because of the World Cup (almost 22% in June from May). But let’s be fair: only half of the monthly inflation came from the football competition. And prices will remain far from the 4.5 percent target beyond 2015 unless the central bank rises rates further.
SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes via Historinhas | The depression may not be “Great”, but it has certainly been “Prolonged”. And like many things, good or bad, that persist, people “get used” to it! And there are those, like the BIS, who think that deepening the depression is worth it if it means reducing the risk of another financial crisis! The world´s major central banks have certainly caused a lot of damage by tightening money in the face of imaginary inflation dangers, but at least they are shrugging off the BIS “recommendations”.
BEIJING | Caixin’s editorial | In China, as the economy slows, Beijing has rolled out specific policies intended to ensure growth, but real solutions must involve structural changes.
WASHINGTON | By Pablo Pardo | The Monty Python are back in London, and one of their most famous sketches revolves around the phrase “nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.” The Bank of International Settlements (BIS) is like the Spanish Inquisition, only less funny and more predictable than the British surreal comedy group: it is the bearer of orthodoxy, even if it means sending everybody to the stake. Its prescriptions are suicidal in economic terms, wrong from a moral point of view, and unjust from a societal perspective.
SAO PAULO | By Marcus Nunes via Historinhas | That´s what Simon Wren-Lewis does in “Taylor Rules, the ZLB and Euro Diversity”: John Taylor originally suggested his rule as both a good guide to what central banks actually do and also one that “captures the spirit of the recent research”. It has been used ever since as a yardstick by which to measure monetary policy.
The Corner via Deutsche Bank Research | For a long time, technological progress in the world of media has surpassed the improved image display via screen diagonal or contrast by far. This is not only shown by the gadgets which the TV viewer may use for his or her personal analysis of the games of the FIFA Football World Cup. This opens completely new opportunities and business models for the large field of visual media.
BEIJING | Via Caixin | As China gets richer, many of its people are becoming overweight, and businesses aimed at helping people improve poor lifestyles will prosper.