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Geopolitics

Difficult Decisions: infrastructure choices, payments, sanctions and alternative networks

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Cross-border payments for the most part still run on SWIFT and old-school correspondent banking, but rules are now forcing banks to go real time. Since 9 January 2025, EU banks have been required to receive euro instant payments within 10 seconds, 24/7. By this October, they also need to be able to send them. That [...]

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Building Blocks – Suriname’s Emerging Offshore Oil Sector

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Suriname is moving from frontier to pre-producer. TotalEnergies and APA’s October 2024 Final Investment Decision (FID) on Block 58 means it planned to start producing first oil in 2028, shifting attention from exploration to execution risk and market access. Staatsolie’s role and consolidation, reinforced by TotalEnergies’ entry into Block 53 in mid-2025, provide scale and

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Corridors or Chokepoints – the infrastructure bet driving Ethiopia’s future

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Although the Pretoria accord halted open warfare, Ethiopia’s political temperature has begun to rise again. Rival factions inside the Tigray People’s Liberation Front now contest the authority of the federally backed Interim Administration; analysts warn that internal splits could ignite a fresh insurgency and draw Eritrea back in. In parallel, the Fano militia in Amhara

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From Conflict Zone to Energy Hub: Mozambique’s LNG Gamble

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In northern Mozambique, lies one of the world’s richest undeveloped gas basins, just offshore in a province still scarred by jihadist violence. Since 2017, the Cabo Delgado insurgency has claimed at least 4,600 lives and uprooted about a million residents, forcing TotalEnergies to suspend work on its flagship LNG complex in 2021. Fast‑forward to July 2025: Rwandan and

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On Top of the World: Brazil’s business boom amid green horizons

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After two years of turbulence, Brazil enters mid-2025 on firmer economic footing. Real GDP expanded 3.4 percent in 2024 - its best since the pandemic - driven by household spending and a rebound in capital formation. Momentum is moderating as tighter policy grinds, yet consensus still pegs 2025 growth above two percent and expects inflation

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Turkish Tales: why investors are looking again at Turkey

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After an eighteen-month monetary overhaul, Ankara is finally putting a lid on the price spiral that peaked above 70 percent last spring. The OECD’s April survey notes that, provided interest rates remain restrictive and fiscal discipline holds, consumer inflation should sink to single digits by 2027, bringing Turkey back within striking distance of its long-forgotten

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Tensions Mount in the Middle East: countries close to conflict

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Washington’s 22 June strikes on Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan crippled centrifuge halls and auxiliary power systems, shaving, by Tehran’s own estimate, several months off its enrichment timetable and forcing emergency repairs under international scrutiny. Yet the underlying capability endures, IAEA data show Iran now holds more than 9 tons of enriched uranium, including enough 60

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Vietnam’s quiet rise amid global realignment

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Since 2007 when Vietnam joined the World Trade Organisation (WTO), this Southeast Asian nation has produced seven-fold straight growth up to 2022 in imports and exports combined. There was a drop of 6.6% in 2023 due to lower demand in exports from the US and EU, but that demand quickly recovered by 2024. That Vietnam

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Kazakhstan: The Eurasian Trade Pivot

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Kazakhstan enters mid-2025 in a somewhat different position from previous years. The economy is showing signs of stable growth, with the World Bank projecting GDP expansion driven by non-oil sectors, and revived investor interest. Inflation has eased, and fiscal buffers have been replenished following earlier shocks from the pandemic and energy price volatility. While hydrocarbons

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The UAE’s Rise and Reach: not to be underestimated

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The United Arab Emirates (UAE) used to rely heavily on oil to drive growth, but over the last decade, it has shifted its economic focus. In 2025, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects the UAE’s GDP to grow by 4%, rising to 5% in 2026, outpacing both Saudi Arabia and Qatar. Most of this growth

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