Fiscal Study

Kazakhstan's Prime Minister Karim Masimov has announced major energy-related decisions in the wake of President Nursultan Nazarbaev's address to the nation last week. First, and most strikingly, he has ordered the suspension all negotiations with foreign investors on exploration, development and extraction of subsurface natural resources pending the working out of a new tax code, Asia Times writes:

Second, referring to Kazakhstan's recent success in forcing renegotiation of terms for development of the Kashagan offshore oilfield, he has declared that state policy on the "recovery of balance of the country's interests" in "strategic objects" will be continued. Third, he announced that there would soon be created a state trust analogous to KazMunaiGaz but operating "in the sphere of solid [rather than liquid] hydrocarbons", ie mainly oriented towards coal rather than gas and oil. This trust will be created within the existing structure of Samruk Holding.

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Posted by fiscalstudy at 11:07 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

Housing starts in the U.S. probably remained near a 16-year low in January, a sign the deepest housing recession in a quarter century will weigh on the economy well into 2008, according to economists, Bloomberg reports:

Housing starts rose 0.4 percent to an annual rate of 1.01 million, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of economists before the Commerce Department's Feb. 20 report. Consumer prices rose 0.3 percent in January, a slower rate than the prior month, Labor Department figures the same day may show.

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Posted by fiscalstudy at 3:09 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

IT IS not hard to worry about the world economy. America is either in, or perilously close to, recession, and other rich economies are weakening as the credit crunch tightens. In its new forecast, the International Monetary Fund expects global growth to slow from 4.9% last year to 4.1%: rich countries will manage only 1.8%. But that could prove optimistic. Since this slowdown came from a financial bust, the outlook is particularly uncertain. Nobody knows what financial calamities lurk under the surface or by how much credit will shrink. But one thing is clear. By adopting very different stances to the threat, policymakers are not helping to assuage the uncertainty, The Economist reports:

Posted by fiscalstudy at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)

IT IS not hard to worry about the world economy. America is either in, or perilously close to, recession, and other rich economies are weakening as the credit crunch tightens. In its new forecast, the International Monetary Fund expects global growth to slow from 4.9% last year to 4.1%: rich countries will manage only 1.8%. But that could prove optimistic. Since this slowdown came from a financial bust, the outlook is particularly uncertain. Nobody knows what financial calamities lurk under the surface or by how much credit will shrink. But one thing is clear. By adopting very different stances to the threat, policymakers are not helping to assuage the uncertainty, The Economist reports:

Read it all.

Posted by fiscalstudy at 3:14 PM | Permalink | Comments (0)