Quick note: it seems not everyone is abandoning the euro as a sinking ship. French finance minister Christine Lagarde today “welcome[d] Estonia to the euro club with great satisfaction” after the EU finance ministers approved the country’s adoption of the common currency, according to the Wall Street Journal. The euro will replace the Estonia kroon on January 1.
BluDanuBlog
Estonia to adopt euro next year
June 8th, 2010President announces National Export Initiative
January 27th, 2010In his State of the Union address to Congress today, President Obama set a national goal to “double our exports over the next five years, an increase that will support 2 million jobs in America” through a new National Export Initiative. Details are scarce so far, but the White House blog says “the NEI includes the creation of the President’s Export Promotion Cabinet and an enhancement of funding for key export promotion programs.” The focus on small business is encouraging, and we look forward to learning more about the substance of the initiative.
Shipping rates to rise
August 4th, 2009Purchasing.com reports that container shipping lines in the Westbound Transpacific Stabilization Agreement (WTSA) cartel are planning rate increases from $120 to $200 per 20-foot container on US-to-Asia routes effective September 1. The move is an attempt to claw back recent rate declines in response to falling demand due to the global recession.
$1bn Chinese manufacturing investment in Texas
April 16th, 2009Will Chinese workers soon be complaining that all the good manufacturing jobs are being outsourced to Texas? The state Comptroller’s office is reporting on a $1 billion pipe manufacturing facility to be built by a Chinese company on the Texas coast:
TPCO America Corp. (TPCO), a subsidiary of China-based Tianjin Pipe (Group) Corp., will build the plant near Gregory in San Patricio County. This will be the largest single manufacturing investment made by a Chinese company in the United States. The facility could create as many as 600 jobs and have an estimated $2.7 billion economic impact in 10 years.
The plant will produce pipe for the oil and gas industry and is scheduled to begin producing in two and a half years.
(And a shout-out goes to trade development goddess Jen Martinez for tweeting the story.)
WTO predicts 9% drop in global trade this year
March 25th, 2009Yesterday’s Wall Street Journal reports that the World Trade Organization is predicting a decline of at least 9% in world trade for 2009, the most pessimistic forecast in the organization’s history. What happens next depends on political leaders’ ability to resist protectionist temptations.
German economy hurting badly
March 23rd, 2009Edward Hugh at “A Fistful of Euros covers several recent forecasts of German GDP for 2009, predicting a contraction of anywhere from 4.3% to 7%. Ouch. ”It is also rather worrying that, with elections looming, Germany’s leaders seem to be in serious denial on all of this.”
CEE tigers
September 7th, 2007China and India get most of the headlines, but post-communist Europe has some tiger economies of its own.
Bloomberg reports that Slovakia’s GDP grew at an annual 9.4% in the second quarter with a projected 8.8% for the year.
Meanwhile Poland’s economy expanded at 6.7% in the second quarter, according to Dow-Jones Newswires.
Russia, of course, has become something of an oil sheikhdom in recent years, and even dowdy Belarus has benefited from imports of Russian oil and gas at below-market prices.
Hungary was the laggard with only 1.2% annualized growth in the second quarter, according to the Hungarian Central Statistical Office.
| Country | Period | GDP growth | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Albania | 2006 | 5% | Bank of Albania |
| Belarus | H1/2007 | 8.8% (disputed) | Belarusian Telegraph Agency |
| Bosnia-Hercegovina | 2006 | 6% (est.) | International Monetary Fund |
| Bulgaria | Q1/2007 | 6.2% | Eurostat |
| Croatia | Q1/2007 | 7.0% | European Commission |
| Czech Republic | Q1/2007 | 6.2% | Eurostat |
| Estonia | Q1/2007 | 9.8% | Eurostat |
| Hungary | Q2/2007 | 1.2% | Hungarian Central Statistical Office |
| Latvia | Q2/2007 | 11.3% | Eurostat |
| Lithuania | Q2/2007 | 7.7% | Eurostat |
| Macedonia | Q1/2007 | 7.0% | European Commission |
| Montenegro | Q1/2007 | 6.6% | European Commission |
| Poland | Q2/2007 | 6.7% | Dow-Jones Newswires |
| Romania | Q2/2007 | 5.6% | Bloomberg |
| Russia | Q1/2007 | 7.9% | U. of Pennsylvania/Prognoz |
| Serbia | Q1/2007 | 8.7% | European Commission |
| Slovakia | Q2/2007 | 9.4% | Bloomberg |
| Slovenia | Q1/2007 | 7.5% | Eurostat |
| Ukraine | H1/2007 | 7.9% | Novosti |