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• South Korea’s long-term crude oil contracts are expected to rise in 2024 and beyond.
• The Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) aims to bolster crude oil trade between South Korea and Middle Eastern producers.
• Growing reliance on term crude oil imports could adversely affect imports from the spot markets

Latest Development: Google is set to construct Humboldt, a new subsea cable that will be the first to directly connect South America with the Asia-Pacific (APAC) region, spanning 9,200 miles from Chile to Australia via French Polynesia. The Humboldt subsea cable is poised to deliver significant upside favour to Australia, Chile, and French

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• The economy outperformed our 4.7% growth forecast for 2023, expanding by a swifter 5.0% instead and pointing to stronger growth momentum than we previous thought.
• However, we are sticking to our 5.5% growth forecast for 2024. 
• One reason is that a likely global growth slowdown will weigh on external demand, and another is that the

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• Florida’s plan to import drugs from Canada will face many obstacles despite FDA approval.
• The Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America industry group is likely to launch legal action against the program, which will benefit drugmakers.
• However, ongoing drug shortages and high pharmaceutical costs will persist in the US

Key View: We believe demand for passenger EVs in Austria will expand by a moderate 24.4% in 2024, following an expected 34.7% expansion in 2023. We anticipate that Austria's passenger EV penetration rate will reach over 27.0% in 2024, as the Green Party's decisive win in the 2022 elections secures additional support for zero-emission

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• New reforms will present mixed opportunities and risks for consumers and drugmakers operating in Argentina.
• We expect pharmaceutical professional associations will continue to express concerns in response to the new pharmaceutical reforms in Argentina.
• Social unrest and inflationary pressures will remain a trend and will pose

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• We forecast that loan growth in Pakistan will rebound to 7.2% y-o-y by end-2024 because of improving economic conditions and a lower anticipated cost of debt.
• However, given that government bonds make up 42% of total banking assets, banks are vulnerable if government finances come under further pressure.
• That said, overall credit

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• Despite a push to pass important legislation ahead of the European parliamentary elections, we expect that electoral considerations as well as divisions between the major party groupings will stall reform at the EU level.
• The EU will likely focus its efforts on passing the Migration and Asylum Pact, supporting the green and digital

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• Houthi attacks on shipping vessels in the Red Sea mark a significant flashpoint in global container shipping as rerouted vessels lead to higher shipping costs and scheduling disruptions.
• The Asia-Europe corridor will face the most acute delays given the scarcity of viable alternatives to the essential Suez Canal and the intricate

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• After posting an estimated surplus of 1.4% of GDP in 2023, we expect narrow current account deficits of 0.5% in 2024 and 0.2% in 2025 in Poland.
• We expect the current account to tip back into deficit as the export growth remains under pressure in 2023 due to a weak external backdrop, while import growth recovers owing to an