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• The introduction of an hourly minimum wage requirement in the Netherlands in January 2024 will reduce labour cost pressures for employers. The new rate replaces the daily, weekly and monthly minimum wage requirement.
• While the overall wage is still relatively high, the Netherlands will remain an attractive market for employers due to high

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• Thailand’s natural gas production is projected to recover in 2024 growing by 8% y-o-y.
• Thailand’s proved natural gas reserves are expected to rise further in 2024 as both local and foreign companies ramp up drilling activities in the Gulf of Thailand.
• Erawan and Bongkot fields holds the key to Thailand’s natural gas production growth in the

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• We expect the Ukrainian economy to extend its recovery trajectory, growing by 3.5% in 2024 and 4.3% in 2025.
• Loose fiscal policy, the stable operation of export routes and the continued optimisation of wartime production and logistics will remain key drivers of growth.
• Nonetheless, Russian airstrikes, labour shortages and electricity

Key View

• We are revising our Chilean GDP growth forecast upwards from 1.8% to 2.7%, which will strongly outpace 2023’s marginal 0.2% expansion.
• Strength in copper exports and a rebound in domestic demand will drive growth over the coming quarters.
• Risks to our forecast are tilted slightly to the downside as the Banco Central de Chile may make fewer

Key View

• We expect the European Central Bank (ECB) to cut its deposit rate by 25 basis points from its current high of 4.00% to 3.75% in June, versus our prior expectation for a cut in July. We retain our forecast for it to be lowered only slightly further to a year-end rate of 3.25%.
• Constrained regional growth prospects will motivate the ECB to

Key View:

• Ongoing drugmaker investment will boost Singapore’s status as a key pharmaceutical hub.
• The government of Singapore will continue to take a proactive role in developing the market’s biomedical manufacturing industry. 
• Through AstraZeneca’s investment, Singapore's position as an important trading hub for the pharmaceutical sector in the

In Sub-Saharan Africa, e-commerce is adapting to low bank account ownership by integrating mobile money and hybrid payment systems. With only 3% credit card and 24% debit card ownership in 2021, services like Safaricom’s M-Pesa and MTN's MoMo are pivotal, offering mobile money accounts to all consumer groups. Hybrid payment systems combine online

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• We forecast that Tanzania’s real GDP growth will accelerate from 5.1% in 2023 to 5.4% in 2024, after the Q4 2023 growth print came in at 4.6%, from 5.3% in Q3 2024. 
• Tanzania’s improving investment environment will continue to encourage greater private sector credit demand and investment. Meanwhile, the government has signalled that public

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• In 2023, Tunisia’s olive oil exports amounted to a record TND3.81bn compared to TND2.50bn in 2022 and an average of TND2.00bn per annum in 2018-2022. Several factors contributed to robust export sales including a sharp downturn in EU olive oil production and continued tightness in world edible oil markets. We expect that Tunisian exports

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• On May 22, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced that a UK general election will be held on July 4.
• This date is much earlier than most expected. Sunak may be attempting to take advantage of a pickup in economic activity and confirmation that inflation has fallen to 2.3% y-o-y (in April) to encourage a feelgood factor heading into the vote.
• We