Pinchas Landau writes about Israeli and Global economics, finance and politics
December 4th, 2019.
“What the hell is going on”, or “have the Brits gone completely mad”, are valid – indeed, essential — questions regarding the upcoming UK election. Herewith an assessment, following a visit to the loony bin and conversations with numerous inmates.
November 21st, 2019
Bottom line: Both the CPI (Consumer Price Index) and the MPPI (Manufacturing Producer Price Index for the Domestic Market) rose in October, in line with expectations. However, the underlying trend has decisively changed over recent months: the annual rate of increase in the CPI, which had begun to rise in late 2017 (from negative levels), peaked around 1.5% in mid-2019 and has since declined to around 0.5%.
消費者物価指数(CPI)は国内市場の製造業生産者物価指数(MPPI)とともに10月、予想に沿って上昇した。しかしここ数カ月、基調に決定的な変化が見られる。 2017年後半にマイナス水準から上昇し始めた消費者物価指数の年間増加率は、2019年半ばをピークに約1.5％に達し、その後約0.5％まで低下した。
» Read moreNovember 20th, 2019
Bottom line: Much of what is happening in the economy is not good, in some cases plain bad. But the underlying trends are distorted in the quarterly GDP data by huge volatility from one quarter to the next, caused by swings in vehicle imports. Looking beyond this “noise”, it becomes clear that growth is driven only by private consumption – which is weakening – and government spending. Exports and investment are both negative factors, and even the sluggish growth of imports is bad news. In short – and despite the seemingly strong ‘headline number’ – there are increasing grounds for concern.
現在の経済情勢はおおむね好ましくなく、場合によっては顕著に悪化している。しかし、四半期ごとのGDPデータでは、自動車輸入の振れを受け、四半期ごとに大きな変動が見られ、基調に歪みが生じている。その「ノイズ」の向こう側で成長の原動力となっているのは、個人消費――弱まる傾向にある――と政府支出のみであることが明らかだ。輸出と投資はどちらもマイナス要因であり、輸入の伸びが鈍いことでさえも吉報ではない。一言で言えば――一見強気の「見出し」にもかかわらず――懸念が高まっている
» Read more12th November 2019
Bottom line: Service exports continued their steady expansion in August, in line with the trend in 2019 to date. The main driver is exports of high-tech services as a whole, but the most dramatic rise has been in the sale of start-ups. On the other hand, growth in the exports of non-high-tech sectors has been sluggish and, in some cases, slightly negative.