MGI Weekly round-up | 27 April 2018

Stories MGI has been tracking this week:

  • Malta becomes a “Cryptopia” 
  • Libya pipeline fire decreasesoil output
  • Bosnia's BH Telecom profits drop by 32% in 2017

And as always, we feature content from the MGI data and analysis platform, a summary of the week’s key statistical releases, and a look to the week ahead in data. This week, we use the MGI platform (WB section) to look at the historical evolution of exports of goods and services (% of GDP) in Libya.


Malta becomes a “Cryptopia” 

At a time when governments around the world are sceptical about cryptocurrency exchanges, if not cracking down on them, Malta is taking active steps to attract cryptocurrency companies at its shores. The government recently announced a framework for Distributed Ledger Technology regulation that aims to give exchange owners and users legal certainty in a currently unregulated space. Two of the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchanges, Binance and OKEx, have already announced that they plan to make Malta a central hub of their operations. 
 
The country’s Prime Minister, Joseph Muscat, recently said he believes cryptocurrencies are “the inevitable future of money” and that “the concept sounds confusing right now, but it will form the base of a new economy in the future”. The government of Malta has high hopes the arrival of cryptocurrency companies will bring jobs and enhance economic activity, buoyed by statements such as Binance‘s recent announcement that it will “eventually hire up to 200 people” in Malta.
 

Libya pipeline fire decreases oil output 

A Libyan crude oil pipeline owned by Waha Oil Co supplying the port of Es Sider – the country’s biggest export terminal – was set on fire on 21 April. According to Libya’s National Oil Corporation (NOC), the fire is expected to cause a loss in production of 70,000-100,000 barrels per day (bpd) and will take several days to repair. As reported by Reuters, a source from Waha said militants were suspected of attacking the pipeline. Militants were also blamed for the previous attack on the pipeline in December, when NOCreported a similar production loss.
 
Libya’s oil output has bounced back from 370,000 bpd two years ago but remains only at around 1 million bpd during stable periods, well below the 1.8 million bpd that Libya was pumping before the fall of Muammar Gaddafi.
 

Bosnia's BH Telecom profits drop by 32% in 2017

Bosnia’s state-controlled BH Telecom announced that its net profit in 2017 fell by 32% to 63.1 million marka (€32.2 million), from 92.2 million marka (€47.1 million) in 2016. According to the company’s financial statement– filed with the Sarajevo Stock Exchange on 23 April – operating income dropped by 4.7% to 499.1 million marka (€255.1 million), while operating costs declined by 2.0% to 440.9 million marka (€225.4 million). 
 
BH Telecom is the largest of the three telecommunications companies operating in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which consists of two autonomous entities, the Federation and the Serb Republic. The company has its customers mainly in the Federation and offers mobile and fixed voice services as well as Internet access. The other two Bosnian telecommunication companies are HT Mostar, which operates in the Federation, and Telekom Srpske which is active in the Serb Republic.
 

Featured content from the MGI data and analysis portal

In this newsletter, we use the MGI platform (WB section) to look at the historical evolution of exports of goods and services (% of GDP) in Libya. The period under review is 1990-2011. As shown in the following graph, exports were relatively low in 1990 (at around 40% of GDP), continued shrinking even further until 1998 (when they reached 19.4%) and grew significantly over the next 18 years, reaching 73.6% of GDP. In the years following 2006, exports of goods and services showed a negative trend, dropping to roughly 55% of GDP in 2011.
 
In addition, the TRADE section (LIST VIEW and TREEMAP) of the MGI platform allows users to look at Libya’s main export products and its main export destinations. Oil from Libya (by far its most important export) was mainly sold to Italy, France, China and Spain (see the second and third charts below).

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The week in data

Highlights from national statistics releases tracked by MGI this week include:

Looking ahead

Next week, we expect data on inflation, Manufacturing, Services and Composite PMI and employment / unemployment for several Mediterranean countries,as well as real GDP figures for Spain and Italy for 2018Q1. MGI’s complete data release schedule can be viewed at our release calendar section.

Monday 30 April, 2018:

  • Turkey tourism revenues for 2018Q1
  • Turkey balance of trade and tourist arrivals for March
  • Italy harmonised and domestic inflation rate for April, preliminary estimates
  • Spain real GDP for 2018Q1, flash estimate
  • Spain current account for February
  • Israel composite economic index, unemployment rate and employment for March
  • Egypt money supply (M2) for March
  • France 3-month, 6-month and 12-month BTF auction
  • Croatia IPI for March
  • Montenegro unemployment rate and employment (register data) for March
  • Slovenia inflation rate for April

Tuesday 01 May, 2018:

  • Spain new car sales for April

Wednesday 02 May, 2018:

  • Turkey Manufacturing PMI (Istanbul Chamber of Industry) for April
  • Spain Manufacturing PMI for April
  • Italy real GDP for 2018Q1, preliminary estimate
  • Italy Manufacturing PMI for April
  • Italy unemployment rate and employment for March
  • France Manufacturing PMI for April, final estimate
  • Egypt foreign exchange reserves for April

Thursday 03 May, 2018:

  • Cyprus inflation rate for April
  • Turkey inflation rate and PPI and for April
  • Spain consumer confidence for April
  • Spain 3-year, 5-year Bonos auction and 10-year Obligacion auction
  • France 10-year OAT auction
  • Palestinian Territories IPI for March

Friday 04 May, 2018:

  • France current account and budget balance for March
  • Spain tourist arrivals for March
  • Spain registered unemployment change and Services PMI for April
  • ItalyServices PMI for April
  • France retail sales for March
  • France Composite and Services PMI for April
  • Morocco unemployment rate and employment for 2018Q1
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