Tag: Covid-19

(Photo Credit: Andrew Parsons/10 Downing Street)
Posted in Europe

The English Summer…We Await

Prime Minister Boris Johnson delayed plans to lift the remaining covid-19 restrictions by a month last week with the infectious delta variant rapidly spreading throughout the country. Now, the full reopening of pubs and restaurants among other places will have to wait AGAIN. The British (and the rest of the world) are stuck speculating on whether and when London and the country will return to some sense of normalcy. Today, absent packed streets and offices both with locals and non-locals, the UK’s exit from the EU somehow feels like a permanent exit from the world’s ecosystem (at least for now)…

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(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
Posted in Europe

The Summer Of The Vaccine

If governments cannot avoid stoking further worry and sidestep validating conspiracy theories while also showing empathy and concern for its citizens, then vaccine rollout, which clearly is an issue of both an individual’s perspective on the vaccine’s necessity and its safety, will remain in doubt and the economic fall-out will accordingly be palpable in some parts of Europe…

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(Photo Credit: Anadolu Agency)
Posted in Middle East / Asia

Higher Oil Prices Come At The Right Time for the Middle East…

Oil recently touched above $70 and continues to hover above $60 today. The uptick is a welcome breath of fresh air into the Middle East (financial) ecosystem. The new cash inflow is and will continue to allow the regional states to underwrite new financing in their banking sectors and evade the 2009-esque fallout as banks today effectively bridge finance regional corporates to 2022 (…or potentially 2023)…

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(Photo Credit: Shutterstock.com)
Posted in Latin America

Coronavirus is Opportunity (for Investors) in Latin America

Latin America remains significantly impacted by the pandemic with three of its largest economies—Brazil, Mexico, and Argentina—among the world’s biggest covid-19 hotspots. And, as these country’s leaders struggle to stave off economic and health catastrophe one after another, (distressed) investors will find additional opportunity to allocate capital…

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(Photo Credit: AP Photo)
Posted in Africa

Covid-19 Is A Distraction From Deeper Economic Problems

Covid-19 is the introduction and closing to many personal and business conversations these days. It is also the starting point for most economic discussions across the globe. Discussions on the African continent are no different. But, in the context of sub-Saharan Africa (SSA), the Covid-19 pandemic may be a distraction from the realities of deeper economic problems…

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(Photo Credit: Martin Bernetti / AFP via Getty Images)
Posted in Europe Latin America

Hopefully Stating the Obvious…Chile Is Not A Nordic Country

As the assembly to write a new Chilean constitution is elected and Chileans ponder the new social contract for the country, many in the socialist camp should be more honest with their followers: Chile cannot be a Latin American version of a Nordic country, but it can be a better version of itself…

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(Photo Credit REUTERS/Gonzalo Fuentes)
Posted in Europe

France, State Guaranteed Loans, (and Grants): Deferring the Bigger Problem

France’s discussion on the transformation of state loans to grants signifies a greater problem for European economies. Many governments underwrote their economies with increased liquidity either through loans or deferment of debt. But the wall of insolvency cannot be avoided…

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(Photo Credit: Hamzeh/EPA/Shutterstock)
Posted in Middle East / Asia

Lebanon’s Search For A Solution in 2021

Lebanon has long swept its challenges under the rug and celebrated its successes. But the explosion back on August 4th in the port area of Beirut—the capital of Lebanon—, in a figurative and physical sense, unveiled a tomb of hidden treasures and misfortunes of years past. Yet the tragedy of the blast was it not only took so many lives, but its revelations of treasures and misfortunes were not exactly new…

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