Ben Aris in Moscow
Thu, 8th Dec -- How can you tell when a crisis is coming? It would certainly be nice to know. So the people at Otkritie Finance Corporation are having a go with their financial stability index (FSI), which they hope will predict the next meltdown.

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Thu, 8th Dec -- Banks with big exposure to Central European real estate are essentially insolvent, but this is masked because they have not revalued the underlying assets, sources say. However, with many loans issued in the boom years coming up for refinancing and a pullback in funding of local subsidiaries, these banks could finally be forced to act.

Oliver Belfitt-Nash in Ulaanbaatar
Wed, 7th Dec -- Coal is now Mongolia's biggest earner and the country recently rose to become the biggest exporter of coking coal to China. Yet at home in Ulaanbaatar, coal is having an altogether more detrimental effect.

Stephen Jennings of Renaissance Capital
Mon, 5th Dec -- The outlook for the global economy has rarely been more uncertain, but this crisis is different in one dramatic way to previous boom-busts; the outcome should result in a radically different global economic order.

Markus Jaeger of DB Research
Thu, 1st Dec -- None of the BRIC can at present aspire to major reserve currency status given global forex reserves worth $10 trillion. Only the Chinese renminbi yuan has the potential to become a major, albeit not the dominant, reserve currency by 2030.

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Thu, 1st Dec -- Alla Dzhioyeva, the opposition candidate who took over 56% of the vote in South Ossetia€™s November 27 presidential election, has declared herself president, ignoring November 29's ruling from the breakaway republic€™s Supreme Court annulling the election.

Oliver Belfitt-Nash in Ulaanbaatar
Wed, 30th Nov -- Mongolia's natural resource wealth has been the fuel that has provided it with the fastest growing economy in the world. But the main risk for investors in exporting these commodities lies in the severe lack of infrastructure, and some companies are suffering as a result.

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Tue, 29th Nov -- Kyrgyzstan has cancelled the auction of a 49% stake in Alfa Telecom. The failed sale is just the latest in a series of difficult privatizations as the uncertain global climate sees international investors - wary of property rights and political turmoil in Kyrgyzstan already - pulling back from frontier markets.

Phil Cain in Graz, Austria
Tue, 29th Nov -- Proposed restrictions on the amount that Austrian banks' CEE subsidiaries can lend have prompted reactions ranging from anger and disbelief to calm indifference. But this could herald the beginning of similar measures by other EU regulators under the banner of preserving the stability of their own banking systems.

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Mon, 28th Nov -- Opposition leader Alla Dzhioyeva has taken a lead of around 16% over her Moscow-backed rival Anatoly Bibilov in the October 27 presidential elections of South Ossetia, a breakaway region of Georgia.

Molly Corso in Tbilisi
Fri, 25th Nov -- Reclusive Georgian billionaire Bidzina Ivanishvili has set his sights on politics, vowing to use his business know-how to rejuvenate the economy and restore relations with Russia. But concerns about his business ties with Moscow and alleged underhand tactics by Saakashvili's government threaten to derail his campaign even before it begins.

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Thu, 24th Nov -- Leaked reports on November 22 say that another Uzbek official - Ravshan Mukhiddinov - has been arrested. The former presidential aide is the highest-level casualty so far in an apparent purge of senior government officials in Uzbekistan.