Guest Post by Morten Hansen, Stockholm School of Economics in Riga
Here in Latvia the internal devaluation continues and the debate is whether the economy is flexible enough for this experiment. I say perhaps it is, Edward says perhaps it isn’t but one thing is for sure: the Latvian economy is (possibly perversely) indeed flexible. I would like to illustrate this point with a series of numbers for the extremes that we have witnessed in Latvia so in the following I list a series of macroeconomic variables and the times at which they were at their extremes during the boom and during the current bust. After that I try a little discussion of why the
It was only last week we were talking about how the the DST-Naspers-Tencent nexus is driving online media investment in Russia, China, eastern Europe and, increasingly, the Valley. Now there’s some further investment activity between two of the three…
South African media corp Naspers is giving over $388 million and a 39.3 percent in Mail.ru for a 28.7 percent stake in Digital Sky Technologies (announcement).
This gives DST 99.9 percent of the Russian portal and email service Mail.ru. But giving up Mail.ru also gives Naspers a.....
Belarus is a preferred destination for Lithuanian investors Lithuania Prime Minister Andrius Kubilius commented during his recent visit to Minsk. Our companies are expanding with their investments technologies knowhows and knowledge of European markets. Everybody wins thanks to such investments Kubilius said. Kubulias noted good opportunities for bilateral cooperation in the...
The latest official data showed industrial production in Lithuania surged for the third month in a row in May though the growth rate eased from April. Production rose 3.2% year-on-year in May after rising 4.9% in April the Statistics Lithuania data showed. Manufacturing output rose 4.9% year-on-year much slower than...
These days we all have much in common with Pavlov's dog: we all are programmed to sell stocks at 3:00 pm whether there is news or not. Yesterday there was news, and it was disappointing. I realize consumers pulled back their spending last year in scenes reminiscent of Custer's last encounter, as many households awoke to a reality that they had spent too much and took on too many financial obligations. Many were able to circle the wagons in time, others were not, and now there is a large swath of people that found an escape route where they simply will not pay certain financial obligations (mainly their homes) as they mark time before a new adjustment in lifestyle. There is no doubt that demand for credit decreased, but it didn't evaporate! Is there a single person out there that
To get its new nuclear power plant erected within the scheduled time the Lithuanian authority is seeking support from the EU executive. We are in talks with the European Commission to provide us with some financial instruments Energy Minister Arvydas Sekmokas recently announced. Lithuania has fulfilled its commitments by closing...
The latest set of data from Statistics Lithuania confirmed that the countrys industrial sector has successfully embarked the path of recovery. The data showed Lithuanias industrial output grew 5.5% year-on-year in April faster than the 0.7% rise in March. It meant that the industrial output figure increased for the second...
The eight newest European Union (EU) members (Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, and Romania) are committed to eventually adopting the euro. But, all already suffer from the problems that dragged the GIIPS—Greece, Ireland, Italy, Portugal, and Spain—into crisis: lost competitiveness, widening external deficits, and deteriorating public finances. However, the “peggers”—Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, and Bulgaria,
A recent visit by a Chinese delegation boosted optimism on further development of bilateral relationship between the Baltic and the south Asian nation. Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite received the delegation led by Chinas minister of commerce Chen Deming. The meeting centered around bilateral relations between Lithuania and China and possibilities...
UAB Bite Lietuva a Lithuania-based mobile network operator has recently been upgraded on Fitch scale. A statement from the ratings agency affirmed Bites long-term issuer default rating IDR at CCC and removed the negative outlook. Bites latest results showed some resilience in Lithuanian EBITDA despite continued revenue declines and this...
Yours truly is actually a macroeconomist, indeed with a knack for financial markets, but still; a macroeconomist nonetheless. However, you would not have gotten that impression from the writings here end last week where I worried a lot about the worry of financial markets. I still do, worry that is, mostly because we are in a very delicate situation where a severe shock in financial markets can easily and quickly be transmitted into the real economy. Moreover and as Edward eloquently conveys in his recent post the structural challenges we face are complex and difficult.
Yet, in terms of the immediate evolution in the real economy, and in case you had not noticed, the recovery is coming along just fine.
VILNIUS, Lithuania, May 17 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- An exhibition entitled "George Maciunas: Father of SoHo" will open on June 1st in Vilnius, a city that seeks to become the 21st Century's capital of Fluxus. The exhibition will run until September 1st.
George Maciunas, Lithuanian-Amer
Inflation in Lithuania surged in April by 0.3% year-on-year the latest official data showed. The figure was 0.2% in March. Meanwhile Lithuanias monthly CPI accelerated by 0.4% month-on-month in April and 12-month average annual inflation Lithuanian stood at 1.8%. The inflation surge was marginally higher than market expectations due to...
A report published on May 10 from Statistics Lithuania the central statistical organization showed Lithuanias foreign trade deficit widened to 1.41 billion litas in the first quarter from 937.6 million litas in the final three months of last year. In the same period last year the country had a deficit...
The EU managed to find a brief respite in the recent doom and gloom, recording growth of 0.2% in the first quarter of 2010, against consensus estimates of 0.1%, and previous 0%. The standouts on a quarterly basis were, on the upside; Portugal 1.0%, Hungary 0.9%, Slovakia 0.8%, and on the downside; Lithuania -4.1%, Estonia -2.3%, and Greece -0.8%.
On an annual basis, the EU grew 0.5%, which was the same as consensus and much improved from -2.2% in Q4 2009. The standouts on an annual basis on the upside were; Slovakia 4.6%, Portugal 1.7%, and Germany 1.5%, on the downside;
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