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World Bank warns on China growth

The World Bank has cut its growth forecast for China's GDP to just 7.5% next year. Only 3 months ago, it was expecting 9.2%. And the Bank warns that the economy is dependent on "higher public spending" for more than half its forecast growth next year. Chemical companies will also be alarmed...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 11-25-2008
G-20 tries to support growth

The G-20 was created in 1999, after the financial crises that had hit emerging countries from 1997 onwards. It includes the G7 group of major industrial companies, plus the main emerging economies, including the BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India, China). Its ministerial meeting this weekend became...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 11-10-2008
TOTAL focus on lower debt, higher oil prices

TOTAL have adopted a very clear strategy for surviving the downturn. The results statement today particularly highlights their success in strengthening their balance sheet. Net debt to equity now stands at just 15.4%, whilst they are "maintaining a high-level of liquidity and divesting non-strategic...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 11-05-2008
Oil producers at a crossroads

The blog has been thinking about last week's leaked report from the International Energy Agency (IEA). This said that the world needs "to invest $360bn each year until 2030 to replace falling oil production and increase supply". The IEA based this sum on a new analysis of 500 oilfields...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 11-02-2008
China's Pearl River Delta slows

The Pearl River Delta is the original heart of China's industrialisation process. The blog first visited 20 years ago, as China slowly opened up to the West, and was amazed to discover that cities such as Guangdong were already as large as Hong Kong. Today, along with Shanghai, the region is the...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 11-02-2008
China focuses on the rural economy

China was the first major country to recognise the need for economic restructuring, back in August . Today, the State Council announced further details of its plans, as Q3 GDP growth slowed to 9%. Agriculture and rural development are now the key priorities. This builds on the recent Communist Party...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 10-20-2008
China's export dependency grows

New light has been shed on the critical question of whether domestic growth in China, and Asia, can substitute for slowing western growth. It turns out, according to research by the Royal Bank of Scotland, that both have become more export-intensive in recent years, not less: • China's exports were...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 09-29-2008
'Our entire economy is in danger' - Bush

In early August, the blog noted that politicians were beginning to recognise the seriousness of the economic situation. First, China's finance minister Liu He warned that 'an economic restructuring was inevitable'. Then the UK's finance minister said the 'global economy was at a 60...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 09-25-2008
The global stock market decline

Alan Greenspan's comments ( below ), led the blog to investigate how the world's major stock markets had moved since their recent peaks. All, as shown in the chart, are now in bear markets. Stock markets often forecast economic developments 6 - 12 months ahead, and so this represents a negative...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 09-18-2008
Auto sales fall around the world

August was a bad month for US auto sales. GM said sales were down 20%, Toyota were down 9%, Ford down 26% and Chrysler fell 35%. They even lost 4th place in US ranking, as Honda's sales fell 'only' 7%. This set the blog wondering about relative performance, and the chart shows the result...

Posted to ICIS Blogs (Weblog) by Anonymous on 09-14-2008

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