Dear Members and Friends,
Sell in May and go away - I am
sure many of you have heard this saying, but no one would have predicted the
extent at which credit markets, both equities and bonds, would have sold off
last month, primarily in the euro area. And June is offering no respite so far.
With summer just around the corner, and trading activity tending to subside
during this period, emerging markets could well benefit from the subdued
trading activity on capital markets, as growth forecasts seem to be stabilising,
albeit selectively by region, on the back of the recent recovery in commodity
prices.
Recent
reports seem to indicate that the depth of the Russian recession may be less
severe than previously expected. Forecasts now
point towards a 4% GDP contraction in Russia in 2015, especially given the
recent oil price rebound and early signs of recovery in business and consumer
confidence. Business surveys are now pointing to recovery in activity.
All in all, the emerging market growth recovery is intact,
but headwinds remain. Asia continues to be the clear leader for EM
growth, but Q115 data has proven to be underwhelming. Chinese growth has
already dropped to 7% from 7.2%, and data continues to disappoint. In Latin
America, growth prospects remain somewhat subdued and with little indication so
far that the relief from commodity prices will translate to much better growth
this year.
Enough about emerging markets for
now. In this Newsletter, I would like to introduce two new individuals within
our growing Association, namely Duncan Friggieri and Alexia Vella. Their
recruitment was deemed necessary as we felt that the administrative work of our
Association could no longer be handled by the Board, due to the growing volume
of work involved. Their roles as Administrators include supporting our members
on any issues/queries which they might have, to offer members faster replies, the
on-boarding of new members, to increase communication thus supporting the
Board, co-ordination and communication of events/training courses as well as
all online-related material, to name a few.
As I am sure you are well aware,
both Duncan and Alexia have been instrumental since the turn of the year in
keeping you all well informed of any developments within our Association. They
have provided us Board Members with the much needed impetus to take our
Association forward and reap as much synergies as possible. I, on behalf of the
Board, would like to thank them both for their support in the last few months.
It goes without saying that preparations
for our forthcoming Annual Conference are in full swing, and the whole team is
constantly working behind the scenes so as to ensure that this
highly-anticipated event is fruitful to all attendees. We are pleased with the
rate at which registrations have been coming through and this gives us the
drive to continue working hard so that the event will be ultimately
well-attended. We thank you all for your continuous support.
As always, we look forward to
hearing from you with any feedback you may want to share with us by sending an
email to myself, any of the Board Members or to our general email, info@itfa.org.
Best wishes
Paolo Provera
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