1. Coface: Nearly half of the companies reported deteriorated payment experiences in BRAZIL, due to client’s financial difficulties

Coface’s first Brazil payment survey, which was conducted with over 120 companies, reveals that they are still facing a challenging environment. 2017 has just begun, but the year’s GDP forecast is already lack luster. The granting of terms of sales is a commonplace practice in Brazil. Nearly all of companies in the sample (97 %) offer this possibility to their clients. This strategy is driven by market competition, as a surprisingly low number of respondents cited clients’ cash flow issues. Political instability is also high – and is unlikely to calm down in the short term.

The EPU(Economic political uncertainty) index corroborates this perception (see chart below – the higher, the worse). In the period since the start of the car wash operation in March 2014, up until the month of December 2016, the index gained around 247 points.

2. Coface: Brazil reports delays in payments across the sectors

Across the sectors analysed, the average share of companies suffering from payment delays is 75 %, with these delays appearing to be high in almost all industries. Information & communication technologies, along with construction, are the most affected, with all (100 %) companies reporting payment issues. The least affected sector is retail (36.8 %). Average overdue days per sector are generally up to 30 days. The only segments which reported delays of over 121 days were construction and agri-food. Finally, it is also of interest to note that none of the cases in our sample exceeded 150 days.

3. Euler hermes : Chile: By the warmth of copper

The Central Bank lowered its key policy interest rate. in January and markets anticipate a further cut of the same magnitude during the first semester in order to spur growth. Inflation continued to moderate after the short-lived rebound that took place in November. Copper prices increased by +22% since September, after five years in negative territory driven by abating demand from China, and could catalyze Chilean production to gain momentum. Euler Hermes forecasts real GDP to increase by +2.1% in 2017, slightly better than the +1.7% estimate for 2016 but well below the +3.8% average recorded in the previous decade. The sluggish economy has deteriorated confidence in the government and fueled rising social discontent that could be decisive in the presidential and parliamentary elections that are scheduled to be held on 19 November.

4.Euler Hermes: Poland had a Slowdown in 2016 but still stabilization in 2017 is expected.

Demand-side details are only partly available as yet but indicate that growth was almost entirely driven by domestic uses. Private consumption grew by +3.6%, up from +3.2% in 2015. However, fixed investment dropped by -5.5% in 2016, after it had increased by +6.1% in 2015. But a strong rise in inventories reduced the decline in overall investment to -0.3% in 2016. Euler Hermes expects a stabilization in 2017 and forecasts full-year growth of +2.9% as domestic consumption should remain robust while investment activity should gradually recover thanks to an increased utilization of EU funds.

5.  Eulher Hermes: For Eurozone 2016 ended on a positive note

 Preliminary estimates indicate that Q4 real GDP grew by +0.5% q/q, in line with expectations, following +0.4% q/q in Q3. The pick-up is expected to have resulted from a boost to new

export orders thanks to a weaker EUR, increasing prices which supported firms’ turnover, and a recovery in employment which supported private consumption. Confidence in the

manufacturing sector registered its highest quarterly performance of the year which suggests that private investment continued to improve in Q4. Details by countries will be available on

14 February but advance estimates show accelerating growth in France.