Know What's Happening in Emerging Markets
Know What's Happening in Emerging Markets
Taiwan Secures New LNG Supply Commitments Amid Middle‑East Tensions
Taiwan’s economy minister said a major LNG‑producing country has pledged to meet the island’s natural‑gas needs and will provide extra cargoes on request. The agreement with the United States adds a delivery of 1.2 million tonnes of LNG each year, diversifying Taiwan’s import mix as the Iran war threatens Middle‑East supplies.
India and the United Kingdom are pushing to operationalise their Comprehensive Economic and Trade Agreement (CETA) by April, aiming to grant duty‑free access to 99 percent of Indian exports. The pact still requires approval from the UK Parliament before it can take effect. Simultaneously, India is working to broaden its preferential trade agreement with Mercosur and has launched formal FTA negotiations with Israel and Canada. These efforts reflect a coordinated push to deepen trade ties across multiple regions.
The International Air Transport Association (IATA) has voiced concern over a nine‑month suspension of dedicated freighter flights at Mumbai International Airport, slated from August 2026 to May 2027 for apron reconstruction. Mumbai handled 6.93 lakh metric tonnes of cargo between April...
Via the Financial Times: My thoughts on why US "jobless growth" may have entered uncharted territory. The decoupling of US growth from employment looks more persistent—and consequential—than the three previous episodes we've seen over the last 40 years: https://www.ft.com/content/298a38bb-4cc1-44f3-bd62-6aff25d58b94 #economy #jobs #employment #unemployment #growth...
India’s sugar and ethanol sectors remain outside the India‑US trade talks, with ISMA Director General Deepak Ballani confirming that ethanol is explicitly excluded and sugar export quotas have been modestly raised to 20 LT for 2025‑26. He warns that the limited quota‑based...
Indian chief negotiator Darpan Jain will lead a delegation to Washington next week to finalize the legal framework of the bilateral trade agreement (BTA) with the United States. The interim agreement announced on Feb 7 reduces U.S. tariffs on Indian exports...
Eaglestone Management’s leadership team combines deep project‑finance banking experience with hands‑on infrastructure execution. CEO Pedro Neto brings over 30 years and involvement in more than €50 billion of global projects across energy, transport and concessions. Managing Partner Nuno Gil adds 25...
The episode examines a surge in sanctions enforcement, highlighted by the US boarding the sanctioned tanker Veronica III, and Iran’s surprising proposal for joint US investments in oil, mining and aircraft. It also covers Hungary’s request to use the Adriatic...
The Nairobi AI Forum 2026 gathered 650 delegates to move African artificial intelligence from pilots to scalable, affordable solutions. Co‑hosted by Kenya, Italy and the UNDP, the event announced 1.5 million GPU hours for 130 innovators and a €50 million Harmonic Africa...
India's merchandise trade deficit widened to $34.68 billion in January 2026, driven by a sharp rise in imports to $71.24 billion, especially petroleum, gold and electronics. Export value fell to $36.56 billion, with shipments to the United States slipping month‑on‑month despite overall annual...
Indonesia’s Energy and Mineral Resources Minister Bahlil Lahadalia warned that 301 explored oil‑and‑gas areas remain idle and could have their licences revoked if operators do not commence production. He cited the long‑stalled Masela Block, managed by Japan’s Inpex, which only...
Busha, a leading African digital‑asset exchange, highlighted stablecoins as a catalyst for cross‑border trade at the Africa Tech Summit in Nairobi. COO Moyo Sodipo argued that the focus should move from speculation to infrastructure, emphasizing payroll, trade settlement and institutional...
The Caribbean is repositioning as a regional supply‑chain hub as nearshoring gains traction and governments fund logistics upgrades. High logistics costs—16 to 25 percent of GDP—have spurred port expansions in the Dominican Republic, Jamaica, Guyana and Belize, backed by investors such as DP World...
India’s government plans to award ₹1 lakh crore of highway projects to private developers by fiscal year 2027, aiming to raise private sector participation to 25 % of highway development next year from the current low single digits. The budget allocates ₹12.2 lakh crore to...
bbaviation7 had an exclusive interview with Nakul Gupta, Vice President Sales and General Manager for Asia Pacific at GE Aerospace, where he shares what’s driving the rapid growth of aviation across the region from his perspective. We talk about how his...
Afreximbank terminated its credit rating relationship with Fitch after the agency reclassified the bank as high‑risk for providing debt relief to Ghana. Fitch argued the support indicated a lack of preferred‑creditor status, a claim the bank disputes, citing treaty‑based protections...
Tanzania’s October 29, 2025 election has been condemned by all major African observer bodies as neither free nor fair, triggering international criticism and donor scrutiny. The government has hired the US‑based Ervin Graves Strategy Group at $45,000 per month to repair its...
India’s wholesale price index (WPI) accelerated to 1.81% year‑on‑year in January, up sharply from 0.53% in December. The rise was led by higher food prices, while falling fuel costs provided a modest offset. Although the Reserve Bank of India (RBI)...
Chief Economic Advisor V. Anantha Nageswaran told the AI Impact Summit 2026 that India’s ascent to a global AI leadership position will not happen by accident. He emphasized that sustained political will, robust state capacity, and a national commitment are...
In this episode, host Jonathan Fulton talks with Dr. Eva Seiwert about the Shanghai Cooperation Organization’s expanding role in the Middle East, noting Iran’s recent full membership and the region’s growing list of dialogue partners. Seiwert explains the SCO’s dual nature—as...
The column warns that West Africa’s recent military coups, initially welcomed as a break from corrupt civilian rule, are evolving into authoritarian regimes. While street protests celebrated the juntas’ promises, African intellectuals have become “court poets,” praising the new leaders...
Myanmar's military junta expelled Timor‑Leste's top diplomat after Dili opened war‑crimes proceedings. The case, filed by the Chin Human Rights Organization, accuses senior general Min Aung Hlaing of rape, murder and attacks in Chin State. The junta called the move a breach...
In this episode, host Michelle Martin breaks down Singapore's Budget 2026, highlighting Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's AI‑centric growth plan and its implications for local equities and AI‑infrastructure stocks. She then shifts focus to China, evaluating the prospects of EV leaders...
The Indonesia Stock Exchange (IDX) is moving to demutualize, converting from a member‑owned body to a shareholder‑owned company. The reform separates ownership from trading rights, aiming to reduce conflicts of interest and improve governance, transparency, and market liquidity. Concurrently, the...
Sixth‑generation brothers Hironori and Takanori Aoki are battling Aeon and activist fund Oasis for control of the 157‑year‑old drug‑store chain Kusuri no Aoki Holdings. They have called an emergency meeting to adopt a poison‑pill that would dilute any shareholder acquiring...
Mexico's Sheinbaum is stopping oil flow to Cuba to dodge Trump’s tariff threat It risks backlash inside Morena’s pro-Cuba wing--her own party. https://t.co/A4rwOfLqHy #Mexico #Sheinbaum #Cuba #Morena #geopolitics #oil #sanctions #trade #tariffs #latam
Neysa, an Indian AI‑infrastructure startup, secured up to $600 million of primary equity from Blackstone, giving the private‑equity firm a majority stake, and plans an additional $600 million in debt to expand its GPU fleet. The capital will help the company grow...
Thailand’s Bhumjaithai party, after winning roughly 193 of the 500 lower‑house seats in the February 8 election, announced a coalition agreement with the Pheu Thai party. The partnership, together with three smaller parties, gives Prime Minister Anutin’s bloc a clear parliamentary...
Tajik President Emomali Rahmon reappeared after a 17‑day disappearance, confirming he had traveled to China’s Hainan Island for medical treatment. The brief silence, during which only sparse updates appeared on his official website, fueled speculation about his health and the...
Caribbean and Central America are experiencing a surge in luxury hotel investment in 2026, with a strong focus on sustainability and technology. The Dominican Republic leads the market, welcoming 11.6 million visitors and achieving over 70% hotel occupancy, which has attracted...
Egypt’s tourism rebounded dramatically in 2025, welcoming 19 million international visitors—a 21% year‑over‑year increase—and generating $18‑$24 billion in revenue. The surge is driven by flagship investments such as the Grand Egyptian Museum, which opened in November 2025, and ambitious Red Sea coastal...
Whatever the difference between the US and China may be and however you evaluate it, it isn’t in “financialization”, at least not as measured by the share of finance in GDP (h/t twitter account of devarbol for this graph). More...
My periodic reminder that the US TIC data doesn't measure China's holdings of US Treasuries. It only measures China's holdings of Treasuries in US custodians. The real question is how many Treasuries Chinese entities hold in non US...
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced that India now has 100 million weekly active ChatGPT users, making it the company’s second‑largest market after the United States. The milestone was disclosed ahead of the five‑day India AI Impact Summit in New Delhi, where OpenAI...
East Asia has labour-market gender gaps comparable to those in Europe and North America. Sub-Saharan Africa is also surprisingly similar (in the formal labour market). MENA and South Asia have massive gender segregation and LatAm and Carib are surprisingly in-between....
The episode reviews Zambia's overdue debt restructuring progress, highlighting a post‑default €3 billion Eurobond swap that now accounts for about a quarter of its external debt and a 95% debt‑to‑GDP ratio. It notes strong market rebounds with the kwacha up 15%...
A $12B rare earth stockpile is a step in the right direction, but buying from China on the open market isn’t independence; it’s a piggy bank with a very fragile supply chain. Until we build domestic processing, this is a...
81 percent of employment worldwide that is linked to trade in goods and services is in Europe and Asia. Globalization is a eurasian story. Chartbook 433 just dropped. Check it out. https://t.co/jq1gYjLP4X https://t.co/I3iRrM8XEN
The East African Legislative Assembly (EALA) has halted most operations because partner states have failed to remit their annual contributions, leaving the Assembly with only 38% of its budget. Salaries for MPs and staff have been unpaid since November, and...
Why smart people say that exports “contribute” to China’s growth rather than “driving” it: almost all the time, growth in consumption is, in fact, a bigger contributor. More at today's Chartbook Top Links: https://t.co/NNNTMiyj6N
China’s latest five‑year plan emphasizes a shift from property‑driven growth to technology, targeting near‑5 % GDP expansion in 2026 and projecting tech to account for 18.3 % of output by 2026. The renminbi has appreciated past the 7.0 per dollar mark, indicating reduced central‑bank...
Gen Z is confronting one of the toughest job markets in recent memory, as AI‑driven cost cuts shrink traditional entry‑level positions. Fox News host Dana Perino, drawing on a non‑linear career that spans journalism, politics and media, advises graduates to...
NYT: "While Washington’s export controls have slowed China’s chip development, they have added fuel to Beijing’s decade-long push to make strategic technologies like semiconductors and A.I. entirely at home." https://t.co/OcHRXob06N
1/2 AFP: "WTO chief Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala on Friday urged China to change its growth model, arguing that its soaring trade surplus risked sparking new trade barriers. “The $1.2 trillion trade surplus is not sustainable because the rest of the world cannot... https://t.co/fvOrE6LYBH
India's foreign exchange reserves slipped by $6.7 billion to $717.064 billion in the week ending 6 February, after a record high of $723.774 billion the week before. The decline was driven mainly by a $14.208 billion drop in gold reserves, which fell to $123.476 billion, while...
Ukraine is rapidly expanding its political and military footprint across Africa, building on decades of UN peacekeeping deployments and a post‑Soviet non‑aligned foreign policy. After Russia’s full‑scale invasion, Kyiv announced plans for roughly twenty new embassies and a Ukraine‑Africa summit...
President Donald Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu have agreed to intensify economic pressure on Iran by targeting its oil exports to China, which account for more than 80% of Tehran’s sales. The coordinated effort is intended to force...
China has stepped up its support for Russia’s war in Ukraine, expanding exports of dual‑use components and critical minerals that fuel Russian drone production. Western officials say Beijing’s assistance is now essential for Moscow to sustain its military effort, describing...
Deep dive into Chinese Foreign Exchange Reserves in today's version of the Chartbook Top Links. https://t.co/Yc09wNGpPK
Elbridge Colby, the U.S. undersecretary of defense for policy, told the Munich Security Conference that NATO is stronger than ever and is evolving into a "NATO 3.0" model that shifts conventional defense responsibility to Europe while the United States underwrites the...
Senator Lindsey Graham told reporters at the Munich Security Conference that Russia is not serious about a peace deal, contradicting President Donald Trump’s optimism. Graham argues Moscow believes it can win the Donbas militarily and will only negotiate after securing...
