EIU Country Analysis

Business Latin America Weekly report to managers of Latin America operations Internet delivery Business Latin America is available over the Internet three days ahead of its pub- lication date. The content is the same as the printed ver- sion, with

Retailers are using gift certificates to drum up more business GIFT certificates, or rather their high-tech new replacements, gift cards (certificates in the form of credit cards), are America#;s most popular present. They spare gift-givers the strain

A shabby victory for Michael Bloomberg, but breakthroughs elsewhere ON ELECTION day in Queens, one voter asked a fellow New Yorker a question about using the voting machine. "Honey," she replied in a smoky New York accent, "as long as

Why conservative in-fighting may matter less than you might think ARE the Republicans storming back towards national power? Or do the party#;s ideological divisions doom it to irrelevance? Democrats looking for hope amid the ashes of this week

Efforts to speed health legislation hit some snags WILL the health bill making its way through Congress reach Barack Obama#;s desk before the end of the year? In May he insisted: "If we don#;t get it done this

An intra-Republican row EARLIER this year Republicans seemed to be in the ascendant in Arizona, the state of Barry Goldwater, even as they struggled in much of the country. Not only had they retained control in both houses of

The world#;s wetlands are big sources of greenhouse gases BOGS, mires, marshes, swamps, fens and quagmires--whatever they are called, and wherever they are found, peaty wetlands emit about #.# billion tonnes of CO# a year as a

A link-up between faith and greenery brings unlikely people together ENVIRONMENTALISM is a hard corner to fight in Louisiana, a state where oil, gas and chemical companies are big in the economy and politics. But it takes a lot

See graphic below.

See graphic below.

Despite a wobble in global stockmarkets at the end of October, investors in equities have had a rewarding year. The shares in the MSCI index, which covers ## rich countries, have risen by more than a quarter in dollar terms

See graphic below.

See graphic below.

How Deng Xiaoping neutralised the country#;s worst moment "THE East German people are now strengthening their unity under the leadership of the party." So declared China#;s Communist Party mouthpiece, the People#;s Daily, in October ####. A month

Still sparsely peopled, and still an island UNTIL the Berlin Wall fell, Jutta Wrase photographed mostly in black and white. You could buy colour film in East Berlin, but the colours were bad and few shops would develop it. After

###; PICTURE yourself in a smoky cafe somewhere in the middle of Europe--Prague, say--in late ####. Sipping muddy coffee sweetened with gritty sugar, served by a sullen waiter at a greasy table, you are discussing the future with

More of an update than a reset EVER since the new American administration popularised the phrase, it has been fashionable to talk of a "reset" with Russia. Few relationships have needed resetting more than the one between Russia and Britain

A damning verdict in an Italian court against America#;s CIA NOBODY knows how many people have fallen victim to CIA-organised "extraordinary renditions"--operations in which suspected terrorists are snatched and shipped to third countries for interrogations that often

The European Commission reckons that today#;s growth will not last EUROPE#;S emergence from its worst post-war downturn seems assured. Figures released on November ##th will confirm that the euro-area economy came out of recession in the

Lessons from the unedifying fight over top Brussels jobs IN THE end, Tony Blair#;s great European adventure seems to have been a balancing act too far. As prime minister, Mr Blair built a career on political acrobatics. He was

The ex-communist economies have not collapsed. But finding new ways to catch up with the West will be hard EVEN at the height of the ex-communist countries#; boom in ####, almost half their citizens felt they lived worse

When demanding students meet reluctant lecturers A COMIC novel, "Lucky Jim", published by Kingsley Amis in ####, portrayed life as a university lecturer as a grubby, tiresome slog, for all that it was shot through with humour. A somewhat drier

How communism in eastern Europe collapsed, and what came next. Scholars and journalists give their account WHY all the fuss about ####? Twenty years on, the idea of millions of people yearning for the humdrum joys of daily life in

A host of medium-sized Japanese electronics firms have developed dominant positions in many areas of technology. Can they keep them? ABOUT ## nuclear reactors are under construction around the world, designed by half a dozen companies from America, China

Market panics, old and new IT TOOK ## years for Thai justice to catch up with Rakesh Saxena, an Indian-born banker who fled to Canada in ####. Once there, Mr Saxena (pictured above) dug in his heels during what

The mysterious ambitions of Sri Lanka#;s victorious army commander NOT even six months has elapsed since the protracted war with Tamil Tiger rebels ended in a bloody climax, leading to the Sri Lankan government#;s triumph. But already the

The world agrees to pretend he won; not all Afghans suspend disbelief BRINGING Afghanistan#;s disastrous presidential election to a close, ten weeks after the voting, the chairman of the country#;s Independent Election Commission (IEC) said he would only

Communism is a cold shower THE economy is in recession but sales of at least two items are booming in Venezuela: water-storage tanks and portable generators. A country that has claimed the world#;s biggest oil reserves and is

Hamid Karzai was declared re-elected as president of Afghanistan when a second-round run-off ballot was cancelled. The other candidate, Abdullah Abdullah, withdrew in protest at the failure to remove officials accused of involvement in the widespread fraud

Barack Obama will find it hard to take much comfort from this year#;s election day CREIGH DEEDS is a farm boy turned country lawyer from the Alleghenies, in the south-west of Virginia. On a chilly night before this

HIV-positive people will at last be allowed to visit America FOR ## years America has banned HIV-positive people from entering the country without a hard-to-get waiver for fear of the virus spreading. It has not hosted

The DNA of the domesticated horse shows evolution at work THE genomes of many mammals have now been completed, including the cow, the dog, the chimpanzee and, of course, the human. This week it was the turn of the horse

Trouble on the frontier between Saudi Arabia and Yemen is getting out of hand TWO separate incidents underline the growing shakiness of Yemen#;s government and the increasing fear of Saudi rulers that their own fairly successful campaign to quash

As America drops its demand for a total freeze on the building of Israeli settlements in the West Bank, angry Palestinians say there is no scope for resuming talks FIVE months after Barack Obama went to Cairo and persuaded most

Life for Westerners in Iraq#;s capital becomes less bearable RESIDENTS of Baghdad#;s fortified Green Zone, where nearly all Western civilians in the capital still live in around ### compounds, along with several thousand soldiers, have long enjoyed a

Not entirely. But America could still learn from some of the continent#;s ideas for tackling unemployment AT FIRST sight, the idea that Europe has anything to teach America about tackling unemployment seems preposterous. America has some of the most

The election was a disaster. Hamid Karzai must reform quickly if he wants to save his country, and himself THE election is over and it was a charade. A fortnight ago, Western leaders pushed Hamid Karzai, Afghanistan#;s president, into

Over the past ## years economic freedom has outpaced political liberty. Neither should be taken for granted "OF ALL places it was in divided Berlin in divided Germany in divided Europe that the cold war erupted into an east-west

See graphic below.

Decisive action on zombie banks from...the European Commission NEELIE KROES has, according to one analyst in London, "cut through all the bullshit". Europe#;s competition commissioner has trod where national regulators dare not, by imposing harsh penalties on the

India is eager for the IMF#;s bullion IF YOU count bangles, necklaces, anklets and other pieces of jewellery, India is the largest repository of gold in the world, according to the World Gold Council. Many Indians see gold as

The dilemmas facing policymakers WHEN the fire is raging, it is no time to worry about water damage. Central banks and governments have flooded the system with monetary and fiscal stimulus, desperate to prevent a repeat of the Depression. Now

Philip Coggan, our Buttonwood columnist, was named "Journalist of the year--pensions issues (trade)" at the #### State Street Press Awards in Britain.

Why the Soviet Union#;s leader did not send in the tanks THE fall of the Berlin Wall was not big news in Russia. Neither was it a surprise. It was a logical consequence of the process that began in

A tough task awaits the new chief constable JUST when the finishing line was in sight, a stumble. Last month, after long talks with Northern Ireland#;s ruling politicians, Gordon Brown agreed to hand over £###m-# billion ($#.#

Those charged with fixing a discredited system are taking their time IF THE next general election takes place in May, as is expected, a year will have elapsed since MPs were shamed by revelations of their systematically fiddled expenses and

In "An inspector calls" (October ##th) we said the number of home-schooled children known to social services included disabled children. The author of the official inquiry into the matter has clarified that it did not. Children taught at home

MURDER, dynastic intrigues, espionage and war: ##th-century France and England were not for the fainthearted. Underlying the mayhem was the question of faith, more particularly the challenge to Roman Catholicism from the new Protestantism. To modern minds the idea

Bridget Riley#;s exhibition at the Timothy Taylor Gallery in London shows the ##-year-old painter in a new experimental phase. She has replaced the familiar black-and-white stripes with vivid curves of colour shaped into layers, each

Yudhoyono: second term, first crisis THIS was to have been Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono#;s second honeymoon. Inaugurated for a second presidential term last month after a landslide election victory in July, he should have been basking in his recent international

More grief for the Rohingyas "WE HAVE an excellent relationship with the soldiers on the other side," says Khalilar Rahman, a Bangladesh Rifles commander at a remote outpost on a hillock in Ghumdhum, on the border with Myanmar. A Burmese

Are populist politicians turning on foreign capital? FOREIGN investment helped catapult central Europe to prosperity over the past ## years. To escape the current recession it will need more of it. But a populist response to the economic crisis is

After a terrible year there are signs of hope for Detroit AMERICA#;S carmakers appear to have returned from the grave. This week the three big ones--Ford, General Motors and Chrysler--all had good news to report. Ford recorded

Improving performance is linked in part to immigration policy THE University of Texas-El Paso (UTEP) is one of the most binational of America#;s big universities. Some ##% of its students come from the borderplex--the Texan city of

Artificial satellites are helping farmers boost crop yields FOR farmers, working out the optimal amount of seed, fertiliser, pesticide and water to scatter on a field can make, or break, the subsequent harvest. Regular laboratory analyses of soil and plant

Carbon nanotubes find an unusual use as fertilisers MANURE, compost and ash were used as fertilisers for centuries before the ####s, but people did not understand how they worked until the science of chemistry was developed in the ##th century

Amid the bickering and chicanery, people are engaging in democracy SOMETIMES it seems as if Iraqi politicians cannot agree on anything. Parliament has taken months debating a bill to pave the way to elections on January ##th, though at least

The opposition takes to the streets again THIRTY years ago, the world was mesmerised by pictures of ## blindfolded Americans being taken hostage in their embassy in Tehran by Iranian students. This week#;s anniversary provided more gripping scenes, as

The European Union is likely to choose weak leaders. It needs strong ones THE ratification of Europe#;s Lisbon treaty, now completed by the reluctant signature of the Czech president, Vaclav Klaus, has been dispiriting. The treaty does little to

Even as politicians and protesters gear up for a fateful climate-change meeting in Denmark, some of their fellow citizens have little stomach for a fight IF THE forthcoming United Nations meeting in Copenhagen truly is a precious chance to

The Federal Reserve kept the target range for its benchmark federal funds rate at #-#.##%. The Fed said economic activity had picked up but would probably remain weak for a while. With inflation subdued, the federal funds rate

India#;s grand experiment with public works enjoys a moment in the sun AMIT KUMAR must be one of the few bankers in the world turning away depositors. The manager of a village bank in the Indian state of Rajasthan

Welcome to the new world disorder TO RUSSIA#;s once and possibly future president, Vladimir Putin, the collapse of the Soviet Union--two years after the fall of the Berlin Wall--was "the greatest geopolitical catastrophe" of the ##th century

The salutary shock of a former president going on trial THE French have greeted the decision to put Jacques Chirac on trial for misappropriation of public funds with mixed feelings. A surprising number of politicians have suggested that the former

Ministers want to make the great schools game harder to play FAKING divorce, claiming to live in a shop, passing off a grandparent#;s house as one#;s own: not more revelations of MPs#; accounting tricks, but tactics used by

An outspoken scientist is dumped, leaving the government in a mess "THE Nutty Professor", as David Nutt is known in the Sun and other newspapers, has never been far from controversy. As chairman of the government#;s Advisory Council on

###; JUST over a year ago, as Britain#;s banking system suffered a near-death experience, the government resuscitated it with an emergency infusion of capital. This week Alistair Darling pumped in yet more money, leading to accusations that policy

David Cameron#;s wisely pragmatic approach to the Lisbon treaty still carries risks--mostly for him SOME pairs of terms seem somehow to be linked ineluctably in Britain#;s political discourse. "Proportional" is followed by "representation", "expenses" is now eternally

A poet from Manipur celebrates nine years of trying to kill herself IROM CHANU SHARMILA, ##, a poet and aspirant suicide, was this week unable to attend a cultural festival held in her honour in Imphal, capital of India#;s

Despite protestations to the contrary, China needs NATO to fight in Afghanistan ONE day early this summer, when it was still possible to claim progress in Afghanistan, Robert Gates, America#;s defence secretary, was at an Asian security gathering, reeling

America#;s Federal Reserve kept interest rates at a level close to zero. The Fed#;s accompanying statement, which markets were keenly awaiting for any sign of a shift in policy, reiterated its intent to keep rates "exceptionally low" for

America#;s most famous investor buys a railway company WARREN BUFFETT describes his latest deal as "an all-in wager on the economic future of the United States". On November #rd his investment firm, Berkshire Hathaway, agreed to buy the

Kraft and Cadbury need to think about the loyalty of future consumers as well as existing ones IT SEEMS that food still trumps everything. The past few months have seen a parade of proposed corporate marriages in all sorts of

The internet swallows another media business, but spits out some hope IN THE eyes of media executives, the internet is a malevolent vacuum-cleaner, sucking in one business after another. Music, software and videos are all increasingly obtained online--often

Alan Peters, furniture-maker, died on October ##th, aged ## REACHING blearily, in the morning, for a pair of socks, few people give a thought to the smooth running of a drawer. But to Alan Peters, who for many years

The neighbours of a shaky west African state fear that its instability could spread WHEN Moussa Dadis Camara, a ##-year-old captain, seized power at the end of last year, many Guineans and foreigners were by no means unhappy

Europe has raced ahead of America in dealing with its dud banks. But there is more work to be done IN FILMS zombies are dealt with using anything from automatic weapons to kitchen implements. In banking few countries seem to

###; SO WAS it a referendum or wasn#;t it, and if so on whom? On November #rd (see "Elections in New Jersey and Virginia: Lessons from a double defeat") the Republicans trounced the Democrats in governors#; races in New

A boom gathers momentum HAVING seen the damage caused by property bubbles, Hong Kong officials are determined not to have a repeat on their own patch. Last month the territory#;s de facto central bank pushed banks into increasing the

Central banks pick different paths back to normality CENTRAL banks in the rich world cut interest rates in lockstep in #### as the world economy spiralled. Their paths back to normal interest rates will be more disparate. Some are already

Wage subsidies and fatter jobless benefits have softened the impact of the recession but may yet hurt recovery AMERICA may lead the rich world in periods of prosperity, but Europe has shown a greater talent for dealing with recession. Unemployment

In "Denial or acceptance" (October ##th) we inadvertently rechristened the Dutch finance minister. Apologies to Wouter (not Walter) Bos, and to readers.

Lloyds is first out of the gate with a new kind of capital MENTION hybrids these days, and most people think of fuel-efficient cars. In banking, however, the word has less pleasant connotations. Hybrid forms of capital were meant

CIT#;s bankruptcy fuels the debate about resolving financial failures CIT might just be that rarest of things: a financial-services firm that emerges from bankruptcy largely intact. The small-business lender filed for Chapter ## protection on November #st

What online-dating sites are learning from pick-up artists IN A dark underground room in central London, a group of men scribble intently in notebooks. They are in a class on "how to be funny" and they want to

KNUT HAMSUN, known as Norway#;s greatest novelist, was a difficult and destructive person. He wreaked havoc with his family and his two wives and no day went by without some outburst or perceived slight. He hated and envied Ibsen

SUBURBIA, at least in its British form, seems to be in good odour at the moment. The London Transport Museum has a show of the posters that did so much to promote suburban living in the early ##th century. Now

THIS engaging history of Arlington National Cemetery, America#;s most hallowed military burial ground and home to over ###,### soldiers, officers and statesmen, is also the story of America#;s maturation through death and war. Originally the estate of

Unless outsiders continue to press, a deal to end a stubborn political conflict risks coming unstuck even before it is implemented EVEN before it was signed on October ##th, the Tegucigalpa-San Jose Accord was hailed as a diplomatic breakthrough

The dumping of the prime minister raises fears of drift FIVE years after the United Nations set out to build a nation in the poorest territory in the Americas, and after three years of relative political stability under President Rene

A fight over history and poverty HOW far can the clock be turned back? That is the question facing Chile#;s government in the Araucania region, the homeland of the Mapuche Indians in the country#;s forested south. Under a

In late October the minority Spanish Socialist Workers#; Party (PSOE) government won the parliamentary support of two right-of-centre regional parties, the Basque Nationalist Party (PNV) and the Canary Coalition (CC), to pass the #### budget through the lower

The central government#;s #### budget appears on paper to be restrictive, with total expenditure projected to decline by #.#%. However, such deep spending cuts will prove hard to implement (October ####, Economic policy). On the revenue side, the

FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT Slovakia#;s export-oriented industry, plus the construction sector, is showing signs of recovery. However, there are few signs that domestic consumption is similarly placed for a rebound. The signs that the components of the

COUNTRY VIEW FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT

FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT Sovereign risk Stable: The risk of default is currently low, given Uzbekistan#;s high level of foreign reserves. However, in the event of a payment crisis, the government is likely to prioritise payments to multilateral

FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT The sources for global and domestic data refer to historical data. The source for all forecast data, unless otherwise stated, is the Economist Intelligence Unit Global data US and OECD GDP growth: OECD World trade

FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT

FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT Background: The People#;s Republic of China was founded in #### by the Chinese Communist Party (CCP). The CCP chairman, Mao Zedong, then led the country for nearly three decades. After gaining power in ####

FROM THE ECONOMIST INTELLIGENCE UNIT Official name Republique Gabonaise Form of state Unitary republic Legal system Based on the constitution of March ####, amended by the National Assembly in #### to remove the restriction on the number of terms that