Twenty years after the collapse of “communism”, the global financial crisis pushes emerging European markets to the brink of collapse! (November 2009)

Emerging economies are now so closely integrated with developed ones that financial stress transmits rapidly and forcefully to all major emerging regions and multiplied through all parts of the financial sector: The global financial crisis, which pushed some emerging European economies to the brink of collapse, revealed risky imbalances two decades after “communism” (planned economic model) fell.

The global financial and economic crisis has literally hit home in many parts of emerging Europe. What started as a financial crisis has become a social and human crisis. The global crisis has come on the heels of the food and fuel crises, which had already weakened people in the region by reducing their purchasing power. Today, rising poverty and joblessness are pushing households into poverty and making things even harder for those already poor.

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Montenegro – Credit Outlook (October 2009)

The credit outlook is negative reflecting the country’s deteriorating economic environment, fiscal risks associated with the immediate economic deterioration and associated contingent liabilities. There are further concerns that the country could experience a liquidity crunch unless additional foreign capital is secured!

Montenegro fell into recession in the first half of the year when the economy shrank by 3.5%. Badly affected by the global economic crisis, the end of the global property boom and the lack of liquidity in the banking sector, the economic recession will likely cause a decline in government revenues, leading to higher government debt that will persist over time.

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The Cyprus real property market contracted… (October 2009)

Cyprus technically fell into a recession in the second quarter of 2009, on a slowdown in construction activity and tourism with official estimates of a 0.5 percent contraction in GDP this year, after growth of 3.7 percent in 2008.

Property developers and real estate agents sold more than 5,600 properties to foreigners during the first nine months of 2008, but sold a mere 1,363 during the first nine months of 2009.

The districts of Cyprus suffering most from the drop in foreign demand are Larnaca, where property sales are down 83%, and Limassol, where sales have fallen by 79%. The area least hit by the fall is Nicosia, but even there sales to non-Cypriots have dropped by 54%.

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Laissez-faire, the “Freer Market Global Economy”, the investment banks and the policymakers... (August 2009)

The recent global crisis has clearly proven that we do live in a global economy! A global economy that is interconnected to such extend, that movements in exchange rates, interest rates, stock prices and prices of goods are influenced in most of the globe; a global economy characterized by a “freer” movement of goods and services, ideas and capital and a “freer” application of direct investments and financial transactions. A fair christening of this new era would be “Freer Market Global Economy”.

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Greece unlikely to escape its worst financial crisis of modern times! (July 2009)

Greece, a developed country with a high standard of living and very high Human Development Index; with the largest maritime fleet in the world; a top five tourist destination since at least the 80s; with a GDP growth average since the early 90s higher than that of the EU average; and according to the EU Commission, the second best growth outlook in the Eurozone after Cyprus – the only economy in the single currency club projected by the European Commission (not by Pytheas) to grow this year, is to the point of view of Pytheas unlikely to escape its worst financial crisis of modern times!

The robust expansion of Greece since its entry into the euro area has slowed significantly under the weight of the international crisis. During the upswing, per-capita incomes approached the euro-area average. This occurred in an unusually benign global environment with ample liquidity and low interest rates. However, with limited reforms, unmanageable corruption and insufficient policy adjustment, competitiveness deteriorated…

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Buying Real Property in Cyprus (April 2009)

The first version of a presentation by Pytheas Investors Service in collaboration with Home4U Estates Limited on everything you need to know about buying property in Cyprus.

You will find this report thorough and complete. Addressing all issues that an investor should be aware of, this overview analyzes Cyprus status as a preferred real property investment destination and business hub, identifies what a real property buyer should be aware of and portrays its physiognomy, history, culture and demography.

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Global Real Estate Outlook 2009 (December 2008)

The seismic shock, with the U.S. subprime sector at its epicenter, delivered to the global economy in the latter part of 2007 created a tsunami of economic and fiscal chaos that swept the globe in 2008. As we approach 2009, further aftershocks are emerging on a near daily basis and show little sign of abating. It is the opinion of Pytheas that this is not an ordinary downturn, but rather a structural correction in global capital markets which will impact upon every sector of the economy and real estate market.

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The US economy is in trouble! (February 2008)

Job growth is faltering, consumer confidence plunging. The fallout from the worst housing slump in a quarter-century grows. Wherever you look, the signs are unmistakable that the US economy is in trouble.
The drumbeat of bad news since last fall has caused PYTHEAS to consider a recession more likely now.
The US economy entered into a recession path in December and it will pull out of the downturn in June, aided by the rebate checks that begin going out in May. If problems worsen for the financial industry, hard hit by the housing downturn, then Washington will rush through a second rescue measure because nervous politicians will not want to be seen as dawdling before the November elections.

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Russia Financial Markets Overview (January 2007)

As anticipated, 2006 was an active year for equity issuance by Russian firms, and 2007 is expected to be even bigger, with an estimated total of US$31.6bn in issuance next year from an estimated US$20.1bn in 2006.

Russian firms are being prompted to issue equity, both in the form of initial public offerings (IPOs) and secondary issues, in order to raise capital for development, fund overseas acquisitions and, by listing abroad, hedge against rising domestic political risk in the run-up to the 2007-08 election season. The state has also needed to raise funds so as to finance its increasing control of key “strategic” sectors of the economy, notably energy.

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