5/10/2012: Eurasian Economic Commission

A very interesting and, in my view, on-the-money discussion of the Eurasian Economic Commission - the build-up on customs union between Russia, Belarus and Kazakhstan from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace: here.

Disclaimer: I would be a long-time supporter of the idea of the customs union within the CIS and the expansion of this union to include other neighboring states, with the Eurasian Economic Commission gaining capacity to negotiate functional trade and capital and people mobility agreements with the EU.

5/10/2012: Endaffo - a Magic Celtic Dragon

So this... link ... is the latest twist of spin PR tumble & dry news cycle with the Time Magazine ca 2012. And it has triggered somewhat of a surfing waves weather in the websphere. On the one hand, the FGers and Green Jerseyists are cheering the coup that has led to the declaration on the magazine cover of the return of the Celtic something. Obviously in green. On the other hand it is triggering memories of the not-so-distant past: link and link.

Oh, putting aside the fact that Time Magazine clearly doesn't bother reading actual data (otherwise what comeback?), all I can say about the 'good news' is that while Enda 2012 now does Biffo 2010, Time Magazine 2012 does Newsweek 2010.

And here's a priceless, poignantly telling lunacy of the Times 'interview' (italics are mine):

"And why do you think a gulf exists between the Irish and international perceptions of Kenny?
Politicians are often more popular abroad than they are in their own countries. That’s partly because familiarity breeds contempt. You could say it’s because the Irish know him better. But it’s also because the Irish focus on the smaller picture, and sometimes you really can see things better from a distance. It’s exactly the same if you think about what goes on in Washington or Westminster."
http://world.time.com/2012/10/05/behind-the-story-times-catherine-mayer-discusses-irish-prime-minister-enda-kenny/#ixzz28Q4VfaCJ 

Yes, Irish voters, residents, taxpayers, people - you are small-minded. Better listen to the Big Picture folks in the Times magazine who can't even check IMF WEO database to see, just what a marvelous Celtic Comeback Enda Kenny has triggered in the country his Government runs. Oh, sorry... but that would be 'focusing on the smaller picture', right?

So with Washington & Westminster in mind, I give you a new Tiger of Global Politics: Endaffo combining "endearing and ...slightly childlike quality to his enthusiasm" features of Times-cover Enda and "razor-sharp intelligence" of Newsweek-ranked "The Fiscal Taskmaster" Biffo.

Update: In the latest of the series of powerful endorsements from international media, our Taoiseach was credited - via selective quotations from the Time article - by the Irish Times (here) as follows: ""He didn’t do anything that one would think of as particularly foolish..." 
Ms Mayer said..."

It never occurs, in the duration of her interviews, for Ms Mayer to ask the obvious: 'Given the gravity of the crisis that Ireland is going through, is talking to a man who sets for his Government lowest possible targets and then fails to achieve them worth the paper and ink?'

"Ms Mayer said it was her belief politicians in Ireland are less insulated from reality than in other countries."

Distance from reality, of course, is a matter of perspective. Given the degree of detachment from that concept that Ms Mayer seems to exhibit, she might be onto something there.

4/10/2012: Kicking, Picking... Dependency

Quite an interesting chart plotting the substitution of the Eurosystem Open Market Operations dependency for two groups of banks. Massive inversion of relative dependency there:

Source: Citi Research. 

4/10/2012: Investor's Daily: We've been telling you porkies

In the previous post I tried to make some sense out of the headline numbers from the Exchequer returns through Q3 2012. This time around, let's take a look at the overall Exchequer balance.

Headline number being bandied around is that overall exchequer deficit stood at €11,134 mln in January-September 2012, down €9,526 mln on same period in 2011 (an impressive drop of 46.1%). Alas, that is a pure hog wash. Here's why.

In 2011, Irish state assumed banks recapitalizations and insurance shortfalls funding spending of €10,653 mln, this time around, the Government allocated only €1,775 mln to same.

Adjusting for banks recaps, therefore, Exchequer deficit stood at €10,007 mln in January-September 2011 and it was €9,359 mln in the same period this year, implying deficit reduction of €647.5 mln y/y - a drop of 6.47%.

But wait, in both 2011 and 2012 the state collected extraordinary receipts from banks recapitalization and guarantee schemes - the receipts which, as the EU Commission warned us earlier this year are likely to vanish over time. These amounted to €1.64bn in 2011 and €2.06bn in 2012 (January-September figures).

Subtracting these from the balance we have: exchequer deficit ex-banks recaps and receipts in 2011 was €11,650mln and in 2012 it was €11,417mln. In other words, the State like-for-like sustainable deficit reductions in the 9 months through September 2012 compared to the same period in 2011 were… err… massive €233.7 million (2%).

Let's do a comparative here: Budget 2012 took out of the economy €3.8 billion (with €2.2 billion in expenditure measures and €1.6 billion in taxation measures). On the net, the end result so far has been €233.7 million reduction of like-for-like deficit on 2011. How on earth can the Troika believe this to be a 'best-in-class' performance?

Or alternatively, there's €9.36 billion worth of deficit left out there to cut before we have a balanced budget. At the current rate of net savings, folks, that'd take 40 years if we were to rely on actually permanent revenues sources or 14 years if we keep faking the banking system revenues as not being a backdoor tax. Either way… that idea of 'under 3% of GDP' deficit by 2015 is… oh… how do they say it in Paris? Jonque?

And just so I don't have to produce a separate post on this, the Net Cumulated Voted Spending breakdown is also worth a line or two. You see, the heroic efforts of the Irish Government to support our economy have so far produced a reduction of €474 million on capital investment budget side y/y. But, alas, similarly heroic efforts at avoiding real cuts to the current spending side also bore their fruit, with current voted expenditure up year on year by €369 million in 9 months through September 2012.

So the bottom line is - savage austerity, tears dropping from the cheeks of our Socialist err… Labour TDs and Ministers… has yielded Total Net Voted Spending reduction cumulated over January-September 2011 of a whooping €105 million… And that is year on year. extrapolating this to the rest of the year implies that in 2012 we can expect roughly to cut our Net Voted Expenditure by a terrifyingly insignificant pittance amount of €140 million.

Yep… Jonque!

4/10/2012: Spanish Banks Stress Tests

My article for The Globe & Mail on Spanish banks stress tests (link).

3/10/2012: AIB hikes mortgages rates. Government plays banjo.

The logic of Irish Government's policy on the banking crisis:

Fallacy 1:
Government Position: Irish Government claims that it is protecting and shoring up Irish banks so they can start lending into the economy.
Irish Banks Position: jack up variable mortgages rates, thus taking money out of the economy.

Fallacy 2:
Government Position: Irish 'savings rate is irrationally high' so we must reduce the rate of savings to incentivise demand.
Irish Banks Response: jack up variable mortgages rates, thus reducing domestic demand.

Fallacy 3:
Government Position: Mortgages crisis must be dealt with while protecting family homes, where feasible.
Irish Banks Response: jack up variable mortgages rates, thus making homeownership less sustainable for many financially stressed homeowners.

Fallacy 4:
Government Position: Strategic defaults must be avoided.
Irish Banks Response: jack up variable mortgages rates, thus incentivising more strategic defaults.

Fallacy 5:
Government Position: Property markets must be returned to healthy functional state (aka: price increases are good, price drops are bad).
Irish Banks Response: jack up variable mortgages rates, thus pushing more properties into distress sales and removing more borrowers out of the pool of potential home buyers.

Which part of this 'market' is rational?

2/10/2012: Irish Exchequer Receipts Q3 2012

Headline figure on Tax Receipts is €26,118mln collected in Q3 2012 against profile of €25,733mln a surplus over the profile of 1.5%. However, in January-August  2012 the same surplus was 1.7% and January-June 2012 it was running at 3.1% surplus on target. In other words, target is being met, but performance is deteriorating and the Department is correct to sound cautiously here, constantly reiterating the importance of Q4 in terms of receipts delivery. The cushion as it stands at the end of September was €385 million on profile.

Year on year headline figure shows improvement in 9 months through September (up 8.4% on unadjusted basis, and up 6.2% on adjusted basis) compared to 8 months through August (7.7% on unadjusted basis and 5.2% on adjusted basis). This is the good news for the Exchequer.

On adjusted basis, tax revenues are up €1,491 mln in Q3 2012, having been up €1,063 mln in 8 months through August. This suggests that September monthly performance was pretty robust even once we adjust for the various reclassifications of tax revenues.

Now, let's try to see what is going on behind the headlines.

Adjustments - covering reclassifications of USC and delayed accounting for corporate tax receipts (carryover from 2011) - were running at €511 million in 8 months through August 2012. In Q1-Q3 2012 these were booked at €529 million - a suspiciously low differential for the whole month. I noted the same suspicion back in August. 

In addition, the Department seemingly does not account for reclassification of the Corporate Tax receipts from 2011 to 2012 in full. Instead, the Department does subtract the revenues booked in 2012 due to carry over from 2011 from 2012 figures, but it does not add these carry over amounts back into 2011 comparative Corporation Tax figure.

On non-tax revenues side, banking-related receipts are running at €2.057bn in 9 months through September 2012 against €1.643bn in the same period 2011.Semi-states dividends (another indirect tax on the economy) are at €88mln against €31mln in 2011. Pensions levies are at €11mln against €8.6mln in 2011. Adjusting for banks receipts alone (see my August note as to why such adjustments are warranted), total current receipts (tax and non-tax) are at €26,471mln in January-September 2012 against €24,455 in the same period 2011 (+8.25% y/y). 

Now, adding to these adjustments on tax revenues (explained above), total adjusted current receipts are up 6.1% y/y, not the 9.3% headlined in the exchequer figures.

Excluding the Sinking Fund transfers (deficit neutral), Capital Receipts are down at €813 mln in 9 months through September 2012 compared to €1,038mln in the same period 2011.

Let's combine all receipts ex-Sinking Fund receipts:

• Official numbers are: Total tax and Non-Tax Current and Capital Receipts amounted to €29.342bn in January-September 2012, up 8.13% on the same period 2011 (€27.136bn).
• Adjusting for Banks-related receipts and adjusting for tax revenues reclassifications, total receipts amounted to €26.755bn in 2012 and €25.655bn in 2011 (January-September periods), a rise of 4.29% y/y or €1.1bn.
• The above is still an impressive performance, given stagnant economy, but it is a far cry from what is needed to close the funding gap for the Exchequer.
• Critically, while tax performance cushion on target is getting thinner, it is still positive and is likely to stay non-negative through Q4 2012. In other words, it appears that we will deliver on targets on tax revenue side. This represents the reversal to some threats emerging in July-August.

1/10/2012: ECB in two charts

ECB in 2 charts:

30/9/2012: Ireland's Demographic Dividend Turns Negative?

Ireland has one of the highest and healthiest birth rates in the advanced economies club, a fact that remains valid even today, amidst the economic downturn. In the past, this has prompted some economists and commentators to label this trend 'the demographic dividend'. I always pointed to the fact that if this indeed is a 'dividend', then retaining it within the Irish economy (society) is as important as generating it in the first place. Alas, over the recent years, our demographic dividend has been largely squandered away by the combination of a cyclical downturn (temporary loss of jobs) and more importantly by the structural recession (longer term loss of jobs). I highlighted the top line trends in our migration in the previous posts (here and here).

Here, let's take a quick look at the 'demographic dividend'.

With many caveats, let us define two groups of population: those in active working age group (20-64 years old) and those outside this group (0-19 years old and over 65 years old). The reason for these definitions is that younger people  under 20 years of age are significantly engaged in education systems and although some of the students do work, they are not engaged in career-enhancing work and/or work part time. Similarly, some of the people in age category over 65 are still very much gainfully employed, but vast majority of people in this age category either work part time, or do not work at all. Again, all of this relates to formal employment, so we omit household work, which is important in the economy as well, but is hard to quantify.

With caveats, then:

• Between 2006 and 2009 working age group population in Ireland grew by 189,100 and in the period of 2010-2012 it shrunk by 27,000. Quite a reversal in the 'demographic dividend' if you ask me.
• The same group share of total population grew by 0.1 percentage point in 2006-2009 period and contracted by 1.0 percent in 2010-2012 period.
• Meanwhile, the opposite side of the 'dividend' performed in exactly the opposite direction: non-working age population grew in 2006-2009 period by 114,500 and then again expanded by 57,700 in the period of 2010-2012. 
• The share of total population that is captured by the non-working age population shrunk by 0.1% in 2006-2009 period and grew by 1.0% in 2010-2012.
• Let's sum this up: in 2006-2012 period, working age population expanded by 150,800, while non-working age population grew 201,600. If this is a dividend, so far it is coming up negative. Proportion of working age population as a share of total population shrunk 1.5% and proportion of non-working age population expanded by 1.5%.

Charts to illustrate:

The above, of course, leaves out the account of unemployment. But even abstracting away from this, Ireland is now at risk of suffering from rising twin dependency: fewer working-age people funding more non-working-age people. All because of emigration. Dividend...

30/9/2012: Retail Sales data for Ireland August 2012

Retail sales figures for August are out this week with some positive, if only fragile, news.

• Core retail sales Value Index rose to 96.0 from 95.3 in July, up 0.73% m/m. Value index is still down 0.31% on 3mo ago, but the index is up 1.48% y/y.
• 6mo MA is at 95.42, so August reading is slightly ahead of the longer-term average. Previous 6mo MA through February 2012 was at 95.3.
• August reading is still below the 2010-2011 average (96.63).
• August marked second consecutive rise in Value index, although the overall index still did not fully recover from June sharp drop.
• Core retail sales Volume index remained relatively unchanged in August at 99.2 after posting 99.1 reading in July. The index is up on 98.0 in July, but is still below May reading of 99.5.
• Volume index in August was at -0.30% below the reading 3 mo ago and is up 0.3% y/y. The gap between volume and value indices changes over the last 12 months suggests acceleration in inflation.

Charts below show overall trends, including the trends in consumer confidence:

As usual, my own Retail  Sector Activity Index (RSAI) based on the above series:

RSAI rose to 110.1 in August from 108.9 in July due to a combination of increases in the Value and Volume Indices and Consumer Confidence. RSAI is now 1.15% up m/m and 6% up y/y with core y/y driver being consumer confidence (+25.4% y/y in August). The problem is that on general, the Consumer Confidence indicator is largely irrelevant as a metric to the sector performance. For example, all indices set at 100=2005 level of activity. By this metric, Volume of activity is still down 0.82%, while the Value index is down 4.0% on 2005 levels of activity. Consumer Confidence is 38.3% up. 

So the positives are, at least through August, as follows:

1. Value Index of retail sector activity is up 2 months in a row, but at a weak rate of increases so far;
2. Volume index is basically flat (at least not declining)
3. Confidence is up, but I would advise serious caution in interpreting this.
4. RSAI is up and may be signaling some future firming up in sales, assuming confidence indicator is not going completely out of connection with the real economy. 

29/9/2012: Detailed analysis of Irish migration by nationality

On foot of some comments to my earlier post on Ireland's migration flows, here are three charts to show in more details nationality breakdown of the core flows: Data refers to April-April data, so 2012 references period of April 2011 - April 2012.

Annual immigration:

• Total immigration peaked at 151,100 in 2007 and declined to the low point of 41,800 in 2010. Since then, it bounced somewhat back to 53,300 in 2011 and to 52,700 in 2012.

Annual emigration:

• Annual emigration hit bottom in 2006 at 36,000 and rose steadily to 49,200 in 2008. Thereafter, total emigration rose to 72,000 in 2009, dropped slightly to 69,200 in 2010 and shot up in 2011 (80,600) and 2012 (87,100).

Cumulated flows for 2006-2012:

• Cumulated net inflows for the period of 2006-2012 stood at 153,500 in April 2012.
• Irish nationals represent the only category of residents that registered net cumulated outflow (-23,400) in the period of 2006-2012.
• In 2006-2008, there were cumulated net inflows of 32,100 for Irish nationals and in 2009-2012 this was reversed to a cumulated net outflow of 55,500
• In 2006-2008, there were cumulated net inflows of 11,400 of UK nationals into Ireland, which was reversed to a cumulated net outflow of 2,300 in the 2009-2012 period
• In 2006-2008, there were cumulated net inflows of 14,100 for 'Rest of EU15' nationals and in 2009-2012 this was reversed to a cumulated net outflow of 5,800
• In 2006-2008, there were cumulated net inflows of 152,900 for EU12 nationals and in 2009-2012 this was reversed to a cumulated net outflow of 27,300
• In 2006-2008, there were cumulated net inflows of 30,600 for nationals from the rest of the world and in 2009-2012 there was a shallower net cumulated inflow of 3,600.

29/9/2012: Eurocoin for September 2012

In the previous post I promised the update for the leading economic indicator, eurocoin, results for September.

In September, eurocoin remained at broadly-speaking the same level as in August, singaling contraction of -0.32 (August reading was -0.33). The indicator was on the positive side in equity markets and sovereign debt components, but came in with deterioration on firms and households surveys side.

This marks twelve consecutive months of sib-zero readings.

3mo MA for the indicator is now at -0.297, 6mo MA is at -0.195 and y/y the swing in the eurocoin is -0.35 points. Current reading is slightly worse than -0.31 average reading for 2008-2009.

Growth forecast based on eurocoin suggests -0.4-0.5% economic contraction in Q3 2012.

Monetary policy is now consistent with accommodative stance:

However, monetary policy remains outside the inflation targeting range:

Economic deterioration continues in y/y terms, while moderating inflation is also on track, suggesting that some further easing in the policy is still feasible in months ahead. My expectation would be for an ECB rate cut in October-November of 25bps.