Our latest EIU report explores political and economic developments that will shape business across the Middle East and Africa region in 2022 and their key implications for trade and investment opportunities.

On January 8th authorities in Tianjin reported two local cases of the Omicron variant of coronavirus (the first since mid‑December).

Food and utility prices have been on the rise, driving an overall increase in consumer price inflation in many eastern European countries. As consumer costs increase in the winter months, public discontent is likely to grow, leading to protests, as evidenced by the recent violence and unrest in Kazakhstan, which started over fuel-price increases and quickly escalated into a wider political revolt.

To help businesses and investors prepare for the year ahead, EIU has published a comprehensive guide to North America in 2022, outlining the major themes that will shape the economic, political and policy landscapes in the US and Canada over the next 12 months.

On January 17th the National Bureau of Statistics (NBS) reported that China’s real GDP grew by 8.1% in full-year 2021.

After posting a strong recovery in 2021, the Asia-Pacific region is set for more modest economic expansion in 2022. This will principally reflect weaker growth in China, where EIU forecasts expansion to slow to 5.3% in 2022, from an estimated 8.1% last year.

Following the end of the Cold War in 1991, Nigeria’s military played a leading role in preventing regional political instability (for example, in 1997 it helped to reverse a military coup in Sierra Leone).

Saralrasmi Jenjaka, a member of the Phalang Pracharat (PP) party, suffered a humiliating by-election defeat in District 9 of the capital, Bangkok, on January 30th, coming fourth out of eight candidates.

In EIU’s latest global outlook video, Agathe Demarais was joined by Matt Sherwood to discuss our outlook for inflation in the US.

The euro area registered a moderate quarterly growth rate of 0.3% during the fourth quarter, after growing solidly by 2.2% during the third. The deceleration was in line with our expectations and was due to three main factors.