India is apparently facing its own subprime crisis. Banks have cut back on lending, as the Bank of India has caused real interest rates to rise to around 7%. Loan growth is already down 20% this year, with personal unsecured loans facing the greatest cutbacks. ICICI, India’s largest bank, has withdrawn entirely from this sector, […]
Chemicals and the Economy
4 issues driving today’s oil price
Quietly, oil has moved back to the $100/bbl level. This is quite different from January, when it first hit the magic $100/bbl number. Financial players had jumped on the trend from November as crude rose above $80/bbl, and then wanted to ‘get out at the top’. Their thinking was that a US recession would reduce […]
The law of unintended consequences
There’s an interesting article on Bloomberg, suggesting that the US Fed’s dramatic interest rates reductions are ‘driving Asia’s governments back to controlled economies’. Its argument is that by cutting rates, Bernanke is ‘limiting his Asian counterparts’ ability to curb inflation’. It goes on to argue that Asian banks cannot now raise domestic interest rates to […]
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