Posts
Posted By Ian Bremmer 
Thursday, December 23, 2010
By Eurasia Group's Middle East practice
Predictions of coming market booms in the Middle East have a long history of proving overly optimistic, but there are reasons to believe that this year will be different. Clear positive signs are emerging in several countries and in multiple sectors. At the macro level, the region will benefit from upward pressures on energy prices and from the broader phenomenon of large-scale capital inflows into emerging markets.
Many countries in the Middle East -- including the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt -- are positioned to take advantage of these trends. Despite Dubai's drawn-out and still incomplete recovery, the UAE will remain the region's most dynamic economy. Investment in energy, petrochemicals, infrastructure, real estate, and education will drive its growth. Politically, Abu Dhabi has strengthened its influence and economic coordination between the emirates is now the norm. Dubai's financial troubles may not be completely over, but the economic and political situation in the UAE will continue to improve in 2011, in part because Abu Dhabi remains in a strong fiscal position.
Iraq will see massive new investment in its oil sector and infrastructure building. The country's myriad challenges cannot be underestimated, and the risk of sliding back toward violence remains, but Iraq now has a viable path forward. Its new government, led by Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, has representation from all of Iraq's ethnic, sectarian, and political groups; and project work on the country's massive southern oil fields is set to ramp up quickly.
Infrastructure and energy investment will drive growth in Saudi Arabia, which is poised for a strong 2011. Saudi officials are justifiably confident about the direction of their economy. Riyadh is attempting to manage global oil prices unilaterally and does not want prices to rise to unsustainable levels; it would not want to be blamed for contributing to a double-dip recession if the global economy slows again.
Egypt, despite political uncertainty ahead of its September 2011 presidential election, will build on years of strong growth -- buoyed by investment in the energy sector, tourism, remittances, and increased traffic through the Suez Canal. Unemployment, however, will remain one of the top socioeconomic concerns, and something that opposition parties will try to seize on in order to gain popularity.
One of the most interesting political developments in the region will be Turkey's continuing emergence as a significant economic and diplomatic regional player. Long aligned with Israel, and more politically oriented toward Europe than the Middle East, Ankara is in the midst of a significant rebalancing. The effects of a more active Turkey in the Middle East will become clearer during 2011. Economically, Turkish businesses will look to invest and work in countries and regions that Western firms view as too risky, such as Iraqi Kurdistan. Politically, Turkey could emerge as an intermediary between the West and Iran, as well as a regional counterweight to the Islamic Republic.
This post was written by analysts in Eurasia Group's Middle East practice.
Predictions of coming market booms in the Middle East have a long history of proving overly optimistic, but there are reasons to believe that this year will be different. Clear positive signs are emerging in several countries and in multiple sectors. At the macro level, the region will benefit from upward pressures on energy prices and from the broader phenomenon of large-scale capital inflows into emerging markets.
Many countries in the Middle East -- including the United Arab Emirates, Iraq, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt -- are positioned to take advantage of these trends. Despite Dubai's drawn-out and still incomplete recovery, the UAE will remain the region's most dynamic economy. Investment in energy, petrochemicals, infrastructure, real estate, and education will drive its growth. Politically, Abu Dhabi has strengthened its influence and economic coordination between the emirates is now the norm. Dubai's financial troubles may not be completely over, but the economic and political situation in the UAE will continue to improve in 2011, in part because Abu Dhabi remains in a strong fiscal position.
Iraq will see massive new investment in its oil sector and infrastructure building. The country's myriad challenges cannot be underestimated, and the risk of sliding back toward violence remains, but Iraq now has a viable path forward. Its new government, led by Prime Minister Nouri al Maliki, has representation from all of Iraq's ethnic, sectarian, and political groups; and project work on the country's massive southern oil fields is set to ramp up quickly.
Infrastructure and energy investment will drive growth in Saudi Arabia, which is poised for a strong 2011. Saudi officials are justifiably confident about the direction of their economy. Riyadh is attempting to manage global oil prices unilaterally and does not want prices to rise to unsustainable levels; it would not want to be blamed for contributing to a double-dip recession if the global economy slows again.
Egypt, despite political uncertainty ahead of its September 2011 presidential election, will build on years of strong growth -- buoyed by investment in the energy sector, tourism, remittances, and increased traffic through the Suez Canal. Unemployment, however, will remain one of the top socioeconomic concerns, and something that opposition parties will try to seize on in order to gain popularity.
One of the most interesting political developments in the region will be Turkey's continuing emergence as a significant economic and diplomatic regional player. Long aligned with Israel, and more politically oriented toward Europe than the Middle East, Ankara is in the midst of a significant rebalancing. The effects of a more active Turkey in the Middle East will become clearer during 2011. Economically, Turkish businesses will look to invest and work in countries and regions that Western firms view as too risky, such as Iraqi Kurdistan. Politically, Turkey could emerge as an intermediary between the West and Iran, as well as a regional counterweight to the Islamic Republic.
This post was written by analysts in Eurasia Group's Middle East practice.
KARIM SAHIB/AFP/Getty Images
Posted By Ian Bremmer Tuesday, December 21, 2010
By Eurasia Group's Europe practice
It hasn't been an easy year for Europe, and 2011 doesn't look much better. Hopes that a rescue package for Ireland would halt the debt crisis contagion have been dashed -- Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Belgium already face market pressure, and if the situation deteriorates, the European Union and IMF are likely to push for some form of structured assistance to Portugal. It may not end there. Italy and Belgium could be the next to face bond market problems, and non-eurozone countries like Hungary and Romania could face growing scrutiny about their finances. Eurozone watchers are already questioning the ability and willingness of core eurozone countries (particularly Germany) to spend additional bailout money beyond the current European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) commitments that would be required. Such concerns raise both existential and tactical questions about the longer-term viability of the euro.
If countries abandon the euro, everybody loses. That scenario isn't a significant risk at this point, but some countries face the real prospect of restructuring and/or default, and they'll be much poorer following internal devaluation and/or a bout of domestic deflation. The next few years will be particularly tough for Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. In broader terms, there's a clear North-South divide emerging. Southern countries, in both Western and Eastern Europe, face a variety of challenges ranging from fiscal policy to macroeconomic rebalancing and competitiveness that will be extremely difficult to overcome in the short term. We've already seen social unrest in several countries as a result, and we'll see more in 2011.
In the broadest sense, the process of EU convergence has been thrown into reverse. For capital markets, this means that yields on bonds issued by non-core members are no longer converging to the lower rates that markets give core members. The widening spreads are obvious not only in peripheral eurozone countries like Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain, but are also showing up among non-eurozone EU member states like Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. This divergence comes from two sources: a decline in the belief that the European Union will provide universal bailouts within the eurozone, and doubts among market players about the strength of political enthusiasm in Eastern Europe (where bond spreads have stabilized for now) for adopting the euro.
In 2011, the idea of an ever-closer union will provoke deeper skepticism than we've seen in years, but the European Union has an opportunity to use this crisis to build support for the sorts of reform that only crisis can make possible. Policymakers are working along three tracks. First, they want to establish a permanent crisis resolution mechanism -- an extension of the EFSF that includes some form of burden sharing with private investors. The second element would consist of fiscal reforms that actually enforce growth and stability pact targets that have been ignored in several capitals for many years. The third part would involve macroeconomic rebalancing, with a focus on labor market and judicial reforms to improve economic competitiveness. But during the European Council summit in mid-December, leaders made only limited commitments to take these issues head on, and more talks will be necessary in coming months. They did agree, however, on a permanent mechanism to help eurozone nations crippled by debts. Market players need a lot more detail on how the crisis mechanism will work, but it's a step in the right direction. Monitoring and enforcing fiscal targets will be more straightforward, with some enhanced penalties and European Commission oversight rules.
Then there's the need to make several European economies much more competitive. Belief in the ability of the European Union to force true macroeconomic rebalancing requires faith in the political will of both Brussels and core eurozone countries to push through systemic changes that will generate lots of pain. Selling those changes, and persuading crisis-weary publics to accept that the pain will last well beyond 2011, will prove the biggest challenge of all.
This post was written by analysts in Eurasia Group's Europe practice.
It hasn't been an easy year for Europe, and 2011 doesn't look much better. Hopes that a rescue package for Ireland would halt the debt crisis contagion have been dashed -- Portugal, Spain, Italy, and Belgium already face market pressure, and if the situation deteriorates, the European Union and IMF are likely to push for some form of structured assistance to Portugal. It may not end there. Italy and Belgium could be the next to face bond market problems, and non-eurozone countries like Hungary and Romania could face growing scrutiny about their finances. Eurozone watchers are already questioning the ability and willingness of core eurozone countries (particularly Germany) to spend additional bailout money beyond the current European Financial Stability Facility (EFSF) commitments that would be required. Such concerns raise both existential and tactical questions about the longer-term viability of the euro.
If countries abandon the euro, everybody loses. That scenario isn't a significant risk at this point, but some countries face the real prospect of restructuring and/or default, and they'll be much poorer following internal devaluation and/or a bout of domestic deflation. The next few years will be particularly tough for Greece, Ireland, Portugal, Spain, and Italy. In broader terms, there's a clear North-South divide emerging. Southern countries, in both Western and Eastern Europe, face a variety of challenges ranging from fiscal policy to macroeconomic rebalancing and competitiveness that will be extremely difficult to overcome in the short term. We've already seen social unrest in several countries as a result, and we'll see more in 2011.
In the broadest sense, the process of EU convergence has been thrown into reverse. For capital markets, this means that yields on bonds issued by non-core members are no longer converging to the lower rates that markets give core members. The widening spreads are obvious not only in peripheral eurozone countries like Greece, Ireland, Portugal, and Spain, but are also showing up among non-eurozone EU member states like Hungary, Romania, and Bulgaria. This divergence comes from two sources: a decline in the belief that the European Union will provide universal bailouts within the eurozone, and doubts among market players about the strength of political enthusiasm in Eastern Europe (where bond spreads have stabilized for now) for adopting the euro.
In 2011, the idea of an ever-closer union will provoke deeper skepticism than we've seen in years, but the European Union has an opportunity to use this crisis to build support for the sorts of reform that only crisis can make possible. Policymakers are working along three tracks. First, they want to establish a permanent crisis resolution mechanism -- an extension of the EFSF that includes some form of burden sharing with private investors. The second element would consist of fiscal reforms that actually enforce growth and stability pact targets that have been ignored in several capitals for many years. The third part would involve macroeconomic rebalancing, with a focus on labor market and judicial reforms to improve economic competitiveness. But during the European Council summit in mid-December, leaders made only limited commitments to take these issues head on, and more talks will be necessary in coming months. They did agree, however, on a permanent mechanism to help eurozone nations crippled by debts. Market players need a lot more detail on how the crisis mechanism will work, but it's a step in the right direction. Monitoring and enforcing fiscal targets will be more straightforward, with some enhanced penalties and European Commission oversight rules.
Then there's the need to make several European economies much more competitive. Belief in the ability of the European Union to force true macroeconomic rebalancing requires faith in the political will of both Brussels and core eurozone countries to push through systemic changes that will generate lots of pain. Selling those changes, and persuading crisis-weary publics to accept that the pain will last well beyond 2011, will prove the biggest challenge of all.
This post was written by analysts in Eurasia Group's Europe practice.
ARIS MESSINIS/AFP/Getty Images
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