Research Guides: PEST Analysis for International Markets: Economic Environment

The economics of a country will influence your decision to invest. Some factors that you need to consider are inflation, interest rates, exchange rates, unemployment and the labor supply, income distribution, and long-term prospects for economic growth.

Find Country Economic Profiles and Risk Measures

Fitch Solutions BMI (formerly FitchConnect)
Find country risk analysis reports for over 70 countries. Also find news covering economic risk and quarterly Economic Outlook reports.

World Bank. Enterprise Surveys
Country-level reports benchmark the quality of the business and investment climate. Survey data highlights the biggest obstacles experienced by private sector firms. Reports cover 135 emerging market and developing countries.
Coface Economic Studies
Coface publishes 160 country-level evaluations that measure the average credit risk of a country’s businesses. Reports are updated twice a year.

Find Economic News

EMIS
News from the local press and reports from government agencies and Central Banks for emerging market countries. News in both English and the native language.
Start at the Country Analysis tab and choose "News - By Topic" for the latest economic news.
Factiva
Provides global news, business, and financial information from newspapers, magazines, newswires, and trade journals. Coverage from The Wall Street Journal, the Financial Times, The South China Morning Post and major business newspapers from around the world.

Find Economic Data

Economic data, forecasts and analysis are published by central banks, government agencies, international organizations like the World Bank, OECD and IMF, and research consultants. Begin your search for data with one of these sources:

World Bank Countries and Economies
Selected key indicators in easy to use fact sheets for over 200 countries. Data on population, the economy and infrastructure.

World Bank data
Provides international social and economic data for over 550 development indicators and time series data for over 207 countries and 18 country groups. Includes social, economic, financial, natural resources, and environmental indicators from 1960 to 2000, where data are available.
OECD
The OECD Economic Surveys assess current challenges and report on key issues such as competition, financial markets, labor and migration.
Start your search at "Browse by Country."

Find Labor Statistics

ILOSTAT
Build your own tables of country data on wages and hours, employment and unemployment, and labor costs with data from the International Labour Organization, the ILO.