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Key View: LLA's first acquisition has spurred Costa Rica's fixed market leader, Tigo, and incumbent ICE, into improving their own services. However, we maintain that LLA will find success in the market by leveraging its services portfolio and investment capacity into superior services.

Following its spinoff from Liberty Global at the end of 2017

In this article, we analyse presidential, legislative and select regional elections that have taken place across the world over the last 12 months. At the bottom of the article is a summary table with results of all the elections discussed listed in reverse order, with the most recent election first.

Asia

2018

Pakistan - July 25: Preliminary

Key View: Many of the largest or geopolitically strategic Belt and Road (BRI) markets are also subject to elevated political and economic risks that will pose challenges to project implementation and progression. We also highlight rising opposition to Chinese investment from political and public groups in several BRI markets. This will be

The multiple risks to Turkish banks that led to widespread rating downgrades in July continue to threaten their credit profiles, Fitch Ratings says in a new report. Depreciation of the Turkish lira, higher interest rates and slowing economic growth pose significant risks to banks' performance, asset quality, capitalisation, funding and liquidity

The ongoing tightening of labour markets across the largest advanced economies is one of the clearest trends highlighted in Fitch Ratings' latest 20/20 Vision chart pack and is helping to underpin consumer spending. 

Healthy job growth and declining unemployment in the US, eurozone and Japan is boosting household real incomes and helping to

Key View: MTN's sale of its Cyprus unit will not be its last divestment as the operator pursues a strategy of reducing net debt, better managing its regulatory exposure and boosting its margins.

MTN's sale of its Cyprus unit to Monaco Telecom, for around USD304mn, is not entirely surprising as the Europe-based unit falls outside of its

Key View:

• Political concerns will elevate government expenditure in 2018, notably due to the cost of elections in December and the need to combat numerous insurgencies across the country.
• Disagreements with donors will weigh on a large revenue stream, while disorder and mass displacement in some regions will dampen tax revenues, widening the

We believe that logistics and air travel infrastructure in Bhutan will likely be attractive areas for foreign direct investment over the coming years. Our view is informed by the EU-Bhutan Trade Support Project and an improving tourist arrival outlook. This supports our forecast for real GDP growth to average 7.0% over the coming decade.

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• We have revised down our growth forecasts for Nigeria's alcoholic drinks sector following the implementation of higher excise duties on beer, wine and spirits.
• In addition to passing on the duties to consumers, companies will also look to cut costs by refocusing production in other markets in West Africa, and by investing in local, cheaper

Key View:

• We expect that the Congolese franc will remain in a broad, depreciatory trend in both the short and the long term as political strife, negative real interest rates and monetary tightening in developed markets create downside pressure on the currency.
• Depreciation will be much more gradual than in 2016 and 2017, however, as robust