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• We maintain our positive outlook for Pakistan’s banking sector, which will benefit from stronger economic growth and a recovery in credit appetite caused by IMF support and a policy rate cut in H2 2024.
• Credit to the private sector will gradually recover, primarily driven by improved demand in major industries such as wholesale &

Key View

• Sustained focus on economic diversification will strengthen the UAE's pharmaceutical sector.
• Rollout of mandatory private health insurance will boost pharmaceutical sales in the UAE.
• High consumer spending power and brand loyalty will limit pace of generic drug uptake.

Sustained focus on economic diversification will strengthen

Key View

• We maintain our view that a shake up in the current liberal coalition government led by Alexander De Croo in Belgian federal elections on June 9 is likely, in light of recent polls.
• Elevated social polarisation driven by the proliferation of extremist parties has played a key role in driving Belgian political risk higher ahead of

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• Advancing net zero in healthcare will become increasingly important for healthcare systems, aligning with the global trend across all industries to address the impact of climate change.
• Decarbonisation through reducing Scope 1 and 2 emissions will be a near to medium-term target for healthcare systems.
• The growing trend of net

Please Note: BMI is enhancing its risk analysis with a new scoring system following acquisition of GeoQuant, a market-leading provider of political risk data. From March 27 2024, risk scores are inverted: zero now represents the lowest risk and 100 the highest, for clearer, industry-standard assessments. For further details, please refer to our

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• The Egyptian Drug Authority (EDA) will increase medicine prices, as a response to ongoing macroeconomic headwinds weighing on domestic drugmakers.
• High Out-Of-Pocket payments and reduced household spending power will erode Egypt’s pharmaceutical market value in real terms. 
• In 2024, the generic drug market share will reduce

Key View

• We forecast that GDP-weighted growth in European banking sector assets will come in at 3.8% y-o-y at end-2024, and 4.8% at end-2025. This compares with estimated growth of 4.8% at end-2023.
• Asset growth will slow in 2024 as the lagged impact of rate hikes continues to filter through to lending activity across the region. Higher

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• We expect that real GDP growth in Botswana will accelerate to 5.0% in 2024, from an estimated 2.7% in 2023.
• Relatively stable energy prices will see inflation fall, boosting private consumption.
• An expected recovery in global diamond prices will prompt diamond traders to resume sales in 2024, providing tailwinds to exports.

We

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• Colombia-based Ecopetrol is set to enter a drilling spree in 2024 as the state-backed company seeks to take advantage of recent hydrocarbon discoveries and preserve the lifelines of its existing assets.
• This investment comes at a crossroads for Colombia’s oil and gas industry, with the incumbent Petro administration so far holding

Latest Development: On April 1 2024, Smith+Nephew (S+N) launched the Renasys Edge Negative Pressure Wound Therapy (NPWT) System in the US, a device that significantly advances the home-based treatment of chronic wounds in the US. NPWT devices are wound dressing systems that continuously or intermittently apply sub-atmospheric pressure to the