Saudi faces choice of austerity over indulgence 7 Sep 2016 Falling oil prices may lead Riyadh to cut up to $20 bln of infrastructure projects. The risk is it might trigger a construction slump. Of course, Saudi could just increase borrowing and continue building in the desert. Restraint is perilous but would make more financial sense.
Putin is slipping into Crimean economic sinkhole 14 Jun 2016 Russia’s struggle to build a bridge link to Crimea is a microcosm of President Vladimir Putin’s problem: his annexation carries high costs but is yielding meagre benefits. Public discontent risks flaring before September’s parliamentary elections and may spur a new crackdown.
China can afford to quit infrastructure binge 13 Jun 2016 State backed enterprises stepped up fixed-asset investment by a fifth in the year to May. Much of this spending will be wasteful and will add to the country’s huge debts. Given a fairly robust labour market, China could safely take a much harder line on inefficient SOEs.