July 25, 2018/IMF Maurice “Maury” Obstfeld, Economic Counsellor and Director of the Research Department at the International Monetary Fund (IMF), will retire from the Fund at the end of December 2018, Managing Director Christine Lagarde announced today. Mr. Obstfeld, who has served in the post commonly known as “Chief Economist” […]

July 23, 2018 Itumeleng Mukhovha, Associate, Corporate/M&A Practice, Baker McKenzie Johannesburg  On 1 July 2018, South Africa, along with five other countries, became party to the African Continental Free Trade Area agreement (AfCFTA), joining the 44 existing signatories to the agreement.  AfCFTA is a treaty between consenting countries whereby a […]

July 17, 2018/OilPrice.com Chart of the Week –    The U.S. processed a record amount of crude oil in 2017, even as refinery capacity remained flat. –    Gross crude oil inputs averaged 16.6 million barrels per day in 2017, up from 14.3 mb/d in 2009. Over that period, refining capacity only […]