Economics 25/02/2010: Wholesale prices - deflation is still a problem

Wholesale and Producer prices are out today for Ireland, January 2010.

Per CSO: Monthly factory gate prices are up 1.5% in January as compared to 0.4% rise a year ago. Annual percentage change now stands at -2.8% in January 2010, compared with an annual decrease of 3.8% in December 2009.

Exports prices rose strong 2.0%, while the index for home sales was down 0.2%. In the year there was an increase in the exports price index of 3.3%, primarily due to positive currency movements and a decrease of 0.9% for domestic sales prices.
Producer price deflation is moderating
but this moderation is driven primarily by external factors.

January 2010 most significant changes were:

• Basic chemicals (+4.9%),
• Pharmaceuticals and other chemical products (+1.7%)
• Other food products including bread and confectionery (+1.4%),
• Beverages (-0.3%)
• Building and Construction All material prices increased by 0.9% in the month

On an annual basis:

• Basic chemicals (-9.6%),
• Office machinery and computers (-4.1%),
• Radio, television and communication equipment (-3.7%),
• Other food products including bread and confectionery (+1.8%)
• Tobacco products (+7.8%)
  
• Building and Construction All material prices -1.4% in the year since January 2009.

Capital goods – a very important driver for recovery, posted a yoy price drop of 0.6%, and a mom rise of 0.4%. Thus, mom changes were too weak to signal any significant turnaround in business investment cycle.

Wholesale price of Energy products fell 3.9% in the year since January 2009, while Petroleum fuels increased by 24.1%. In January 2010, there was a monthly increase in Energy products of 0.8%, while Petroleum fuels increased by 2.7%.

Overall, therefore, while some moderation in deflation at wholesale level is evident, there is not enough momentum to suggest that we are out of the woods yet. Chart above clearly shows that the deflationary trend prevalent since May 2009 was broken in December 2009 and the positive trend has accelerated in January 2010. It will require 1-2 months of continued upward trend to signal sustained movement toward a recovery and the risk here is for a double-dip.

The same stands for Industrial producer prices (Manufacturing). But there is far less optimism in the numbers for Capital goods, which show more volatility and reversals than broader indices.

Economics 25/02/2010: Exports under pressure

A quick note on Ireland's trade flows for December 2009 - published yesterday.

As I warned earlier, the stellar performing Chemicals (inc Pharma) sector is now starting to retreat. Exports of Chemicals are down 9.54% in November and, per CSO statement, went further down in December. Machinery and Transport Equipment is down 38.9% in November (year on year).

Charts below illustrate the problems and showing the trends:
Overall, exports are down and the trend is also down - there goes a hope of exports-led recovery (not that it makes any sense, to be honest, given the global trends for trade). Imports are again heading South - suggesting two things:

• a renewed pressure on consumer demand side; and
• continued weakness in imports of intermediate inputs by the MNCs (signaling potential further declines in exports as a result).

Trade balance is not improving despite imports fall-off. There is a clear flattening out of the upward trend, suggesting that we are now close to exhausting the stage when collapsing demand drove trade balance up. It is down to exports from here on to influence the trade balance and the signs are pretty poor.
Chart above shows that the adverse changes in exports are not coincident with changes in terms of trade which continue to improve since Summer 2009. However, as the next chart clearly indicates, we are now away from the historic relationship between exports and terms of trade:
This implies that decline in exports we are experiencing is driven by other factors. Might it be a longer term pressure on MNCs activities in Ireland? Global trade flows changes? Or both?

Either way, there is no sign of exports-led growth. Irish exporters have performed miraculous well in 2009, compared with the rest of this economy. But one cannot hinge all hopes, as the Government is doing, on exporting sectors. Even more importantly, one cannot take exports performance for granted (as our Government is doing as well) - we need coherent strategy to get exporting back onto its feet.

Economics 24/02/2010: What's heading for Nama land

On a serious note - good post by Gerard O'Neill here.

On a lighter note: wanna see one Nama-bound investment courtesy of Anglo Irish Loose Loan Giveaways?

Check it out here - replete with grammatical errors and misspellings in the text. 'Autentik' stuff...

Since Anglo holds the loan and we (taxpayers) hold Anglo, I wonder if being an Irish taxpayer qualifies one for a free drink in this place.

Economics 24/02/2010: Greeks, Germany and the euro

There is a fine mess going on in Athens. And it is both

• detrimental to the Euro; and
• predictable (see here).

Exactly a month ago to date, I have predicted that Greece is going into a Mexican standoff with EU. We now arrived at exactly this eventuality (see this link to a good summary of Greek Government views - hat tip to Patrick).

Back on January 24th, I wrote:

"The EU can give Greece a loan – via ECB... But the EU will have to impose severe restrictions on Greek fiscal policy in order to discourage other potential would-be-defaulters today and in the future. That won’t work – the Greeks will take the money and will do nothing to adhere to the conditions, for there is no claw back in such a rescue.

Alternatively, the EU might commit ECB to finance existent Greek debt on an annual basis. This will allow some policing mechanism, in theory. If Greeks default on their deficit obligations, they get no interest repayment by ECB in that year. ...but what happens if the Greeks for political reasons default on their side of the bargain?

If ECB enforces the agreement and stop repayment of interest, we are back to square one, where Greece is once again insolvent and its insolvency threatens the Euro existence. Who’s holding the trump card here? Why, of course – the Greeks. And, should the ECB play chicken with Greeks on that front, the cost of financing Greek bonds will rise stratospherically, and that will, of course, hit the ECB as the payee of their interest bill.

Thus, in effect, we are now in a Mexican standoff. The Greeks are dancing around the issue and promising to do something about it. The EU is brandishing threats and tough diplomacy. And the problem is still there."

There are three possible outcomes from the standoff:

• Greece backs down and Germany accepts an apology - which pushes us back to square one, with Greeks still in the need of funds and EU still without a plan;
• Greece goes for the broke and remains within the euro, implying a rapid and deep (ca 30%) devaluation of the euro; or
• Greece is forced out of the euro (there is, of course, no mechanism for such an action).

The first option is a delay in the inevitable; the last one is an impossible dream for fiscally conservative member states. Which leaves us only with the second option.

And incidentally, the only reason German bunds are still at reasonably low yields is because Germany is linked to Greece (and other PIIGS) only via common currency. Imagine what yields the German bunds might be at if a full political union was in place?

This, of course, flies in the face of all those who preach political federation as EU's answer to structural problem of hinging desperately diverse economies to common currency.

So hold on to your pockets - after the Exchequer raided through them via higher taxes; Greek default will prob their depths through devaluation. And then you'll still be on the hook for our banks claiming their share in an exercise of rebuilding their margins.

Economics 24/02/2010: Ireland and EU16 Competitiveness

Charts below show our relative competitiveness, as measured by the harmonized competitiveness index (HCI) based on consumer prices (CPI) and reported by the ECB.

Charts 1-3:

Despite massive deflation, compared to the rest of Euro area, Irish economy has managed to record only a small improvement in HCI (CPI) of 1.57%, while the Euro area recorded an improvement of 2.22%.

Charts 4 and 5 show the latest data for harmonized competitiveness indicator based on GDP deflator.

Charts 4-5


Once again we are not in a very good club, folks. And another worrying thing – we are not at the competitiveness gains game anymore either. Table below illustrates

Figure 6

After Q1 2009, we stopped gaining in quarterly change in competitiveness and instead moved into positive territory – signaling deterioration in competitiveness. Net positive – we did so at a slower pace than the Euro area as a whole. But does this help much, when you consider that we are the third sickest economy by this measure in EU16 after Luxembourg and Spain?

So, ok, may be labour costs adjusted for productivity help us in our quest for competitiveness. After all, we do have pharma and medical devices sector here that is performing miracles when it comes to transfer pricing-backed growth in output per worker? And the two sectors weathered the storm of the crisis pretty well so far.

Charts below illustrate:

Figures 7-8
Not really. Harmonized competitiveness index based on unit labour costs also shows us to be the weakest point in the Euro-land chain. And it also shows that in Q3 we have gone into reverse when it comes to gaining competitiveness. We are now pulling away (once again) from the Euro area average.

All of this is instructive – for all the robust talk about Ireland gaining in competitiveness, restoring our advantageous relative position compared to EU counterparts, real data shows we are now getting economically-speaking sicker, not healthier… Time to start thinking about changing our policies, anyone?

Economics 24/02/2010: Wages, Euro and the crisis

Per latest ECB data, Euro area wages grew by 2.1% in annualized terms in Q4 2009, despite the economy remaining near zero growth and despite the fact that any recovery is tenuous at the very best. In the entire period of the current crisis, wages in the Euro area have shown no signs of declining. Two charts below illustrate the point that Euro area economy is not gaining any competitiveness when it comes to labour market.
This pretty much means that we are now boxed into the situation where medium term devaluation of the Euro is a requirement.

Oh, and when it comes to Ireland - see for yourself - chart below combines ECB data with the Central Bank of Ireland data on Average Hourly Earnings Index in Manufacturing:
We really are in a league of our own...