GlobalSource Partners | Country Insights

Key topics: -Ukraine retakes Lyman after months of attacks and blunts the northern threat to Slavyansk, while Russia tightens the ring around Dobropole, nibbles at the Kharkov and Sumy pockets, encircles Terovatoe, and opens a winter campaign against power plants, heating systems and the lines...

Economic statistics appeared unimpressive in August

RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 01 Oct 2026

Recent monthly economic data from Rosstat suggests that the nation’s growth model, driven by steadily increasing government spending to meet specific needs, is nearing a tipping point that may require changes. The short-term indicator of economic activity - covering industry, agriculture, constru...

Today is the final day of the election campaign, the TSE formed a majority to remove a series of posts regarding Flávio and Our Lady of Aparecida, and today is the deadline for amendments to be submitted to two MPs

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 01 Oct 2026

Today is the final day of the election campaign. The main event will be the presidential debate broadcast by TV Globo beginning at 9:20 p.m local time. Flávio Bolsonaro (PL), Ronaldo Caiado (PSD), Augusto Cury (Avante), and Romeu Zema (Novo) have confirmed their participation, but President Lula ...

Russia: a brief market watch

RUSSIA ECONOMICS · In Brief · 01 Oct 2026

In the second half of September, the big news for the local market was the release of the 2027 budget parameters and an updated version of the 2026 budget, submitted to Parliament at the month’s end. Minfin proposed lowering the cut-off oil price for the fiscal rule from $59/bbl to $50. While thi...

Czechia in eight questions

CZECHIA · Report · 01 Oct 2026

This is the first report in our Czechia coverage. It runs longer than our usual reports by design, setting out the questions investors most often ask about the country's economy and politics. Three things are in play as we begin. The Senate and municipal elections of October 9 and 10 give the fir...

BCRD Raises Monetary Policy Rate

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC · In Brief · 30 Sep 2026

On September 30, the Central Bank of the Dominican Republic (BCRD) decided to raise its monetary policy rate by 25 basis points, from 5.25% to 5.50% per year. It also increased the one-day liquidity expansion facility rate to 6.00% and the overnight deposit rate to 4.75%.The Central Bank said its...

Open to close: Interministerial Commission opens the door to a negotiated restart of Cobre Panamá while key aspects remain uncertain

PANAMA · Report · 30 Sep 2026

Panama's Interministerial Commission has recommended that President José Raúl Mulino authorize formal negotiations with Cobre Panamá and its parent company, First Quantum Minerals (FQM), to assess the feasibility of a new agreement. That agreement would serve two purposes: settling the pending in...

Legitimacy abroad, impatience at home

VENEZUELA · Report · 30 Sep 2026

The UN General Assembly was the stage where Delcy Rodríguez introduced the world to her alliance with the Trump administration and, above all, to her first political manifesto. In language free of ideological markers, Rodríguez outlined a transition “from within,” led through existing institution...

Justice Fachin postponed the STF’s plenary discussion of the Our Lady of Aparecida case, new information involving Lulinha raises concerns, and the government continues to roll out measures that could impact the elections

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 30 Sep 2026

Supreme Federal Court (STF) President Justice Edson Fachin decided to postpone the Court’s plenary discussion of the fake news controversy involving Our Lady of Aparecida. The issue could have been heard today, but Fachin considered it more prudent to avoid taking up the matter just days before t...

Weathering the storms

CENTRAL AMERICA · Report · 29 Sep 2026

Economic activity in El Salvador is performing better than expected six months ago. The construction sector investment boom is lasting longer, and negative external factors are hitting more softly than expected. The usual belief that departure from democracy and movement towards authoritarianism ...

The latest poll reinforces the highly competitive scenario in a potential runoff, the issue regarding the patron saint of Brazil continues, and STF justices disagree on how to address this issue

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 29 Sep 2026

The Quaest poll on the presidential election released yesterday reinforces the highly competitive scenario in a hypothetical runoff between President Lula (PT) and Senator Flávio Bolsonaro (PL). Both stand at 42%. Justice Flávio Dino has submitted to the full bench of the Supreme Federal Court (S...

Economics: Banxico holds the reference rate at 6.5% after the Fed raises its rate range

MEXICO · Report · 29 Sep 2026

Banxico held its reference rate at 6.5% for a third consecutive meeting, once again unanimously, following a cutting cycle that we consider to have been accelerated and that now leaves the central bank with little room to maneuver. Core inflation, sustained by resilient services prices, eight yea...

A tight first-round race ahead and other weekly topics

BRAZIL POLITICS · Report · 28 Sep 2026

This is the final week of campaigning before the first round of elections, which will take place next Sunday (October 4). Free election advertising on radio and television ends on Thursday (October 1). TV Globo will host the final debate among the presidential candidates. Flávio Bolsonaro has alr...

A brief comment on recent MNB talk

HUNGARY · In Brief · 28 Sep 2026

Last Tuesday (September 22), the Monetary Council halted its three-month long loosening 'mini-cycle', raised its inflation forecast for the next five quarters and reduced its medium-term inflation target to 2.5% from 3%, although the latter only from January 2028 (which matters very little in pra...

Chronicle of a fiasco foretold

BRAZIL ECONOMICS · Report · 28 Sep 2026

The government’s new budget forecasts indicate that the fiscal framework rules should be met in 2026, with the help of a spending freeze. However, in recent years, this has only been possible because the government lowered the targets, expanded deductions and resorted to parafiscal measures. On t...