Opinion
ING: Europe faces stiff competition for natural gas
The collapse in European natural gas prices in recent months has created a false sense of security. While the current winter appears to be more manageable, the region will find it more difficult to build adequate storage for the 2023/24 winter.
PANNIER: Might Tokayev be the real deal?
Kazakhstan’s re-elected president has seven years to show he really does understand the meaning of the word he mouths so often, “reform”.
OPINION: Bosnia economic salvage supplants breakup mood
The main message of Bosnia’s October elections was a decisive rebuke for hardliners, with voters seeking practical economic cooperation to raise living standards and counteract mass emigration.
ASH: Turkey is heading to “incumbent democracy”
The vision for me of the weekend opening of the World Cup in Qatar was of Turkish President Erdogan warmly welcoming his Egyptian counterpart, Sisi. The two have long been rivals and have very different visions of democracy in the region.
RIMMER: You only sing when you’re winning
Twenty odd years back, Ron Atkinson, doyen among cigar-chomping and sheepskin-coated British football managers, was parachuted in, mid-season, to help bottom-of-the-league Nottingham Forest avoid the drop. The team was relegated after losing 8-1.
Hungary faces risk of severe economic instability if it does not get frozen EU funds, warns Oxford Economics
Consultancy says economy could face hard landing even if it convinces Brussels to release funding frozen over its abuse of the rule of law.
_Cropped_1668760329.jpg)
COMMENT: Tokayev to win Kazakhstan election but then face most testing years of his presidency
Incumbent does not aspire to become a political reformer, but an economic one with a Singapore-style focus on economic modernisation under authoritarian rule.
PANNIER: Russia will be the elephant in the intray for Kazakhstan’s re-elected Tokayev
With victory in this weekend’s snap poll a formality, the president will already be thinking about how to rebalance relations with Russia, China and the West.
ING: Polish inflation continues to rise at a strong pace, but recession avoided for now
The Polish statistics office confirmed its estimate of October CPI at 17.9% y/y and inflation continues to rise without let-up. However, the economy has avoided recession yet again, although the road ahead is bumpy.
ING: First signs of a technical recession in Hungary
The Hungarian economy continued its slowdown during the third quarter of this year and is now dipping into negative territory.
COMMENT: Russian tactics against Ukraine hit Moldovan energy sector
Moldova is in the front line this winter as Russia's attack on Ukraine spills over to undermine the republic's energy security.
NEMETHY: The cure for high prices is – high prices
Prices are important economic signals. High prices – whether for energy foodstuffs, etc., are signals to the world to (a) supply more; (b) substitute; or (c) conserve. But how do you bring inflation down?
RIDDLE: Further to fall – Russia’s grinding mobilisation
On November 1, the Russian public was told by President Putin that the government’s ‘partial military mobilisation’ was apparently over. But how will it impact the Russian economy?
PANNIER: Kyrgyzstan and Tajikistan are only talking at each other. Another conflict is looming
As mutual recriminations fly over September’s short war, both Bishkek and Dushanbe are busy equipping their militaries with more arms.
Autumn refinancing shows ‘chickens coming home to roost’ for Turkey’s ‘contrary’ economic policy, says financial journal
One Turkish bank said to expect third of international lenders to drop out of loans.
Iran for first time involved in major war on European continent, conclude analysts
By sending Russia drones, military advisors and perhaps ballistic missiles, Tehran seen as making it plain that it regards the Islamic Republic’s interests as intertwined with those of Moscow.
OPINION: Serbia’s Vucic sends the same old message with his new cabinet
None of the appointments in Serbia’s new cabinet provided the long-awaited answer to the question of whether the country is going to the East or to the West
NEMETHY: Are we now seeing Peak Russia and Peak China?
The question in the title is perhaps a strange one to ask at a time when these two countries seem so powerful and aggressive, the former attacking Ukraine, the latter threatening to take Taiwan. But maybe they have reached their zenith.
Why Turkey is going nowhere fast with ‘lira-isation’
And that, notes economist at Capital Economics Liam Peach, is despite the recent introduction of more extreme dedollarisation policies.
MACRO ADVISORY: Great Game 3.0: The Politics of Rail
Russia and China are the dominant trade and investment partners for Central Asian countries. But their dominance in the region is now being challenged by Turkey and Iran in a return to the "Great Game."
