REUTERS

Ahead of election win, Japan's Abe pivots away from painful reforms

TOKYO, Dec 12 (Reuters) - Prime Minister Shinzo Abe is signalling that retooling Japan's economy with painful structural reforms must take a back seat to reviving growth, even though he is poised to win a big referendum on his economic policies in an election on Sunday.

In the three weeks since he delayed a sales tax increase and called the election, Abe has shifted the debate from curbing the government's runaway debt to finding ways to stimulate the economy and put more money in voters' hands.

For example, policymakers say they are considering shopping vouchers for lower-income earners that would cover a portion of the cost of goods and services.

Source: http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/12/12/japan-election-economy-idUSL3N0TV3RK20141212

BLOOMBERG

IEA Cuts Global Oil Demand Forecast for 4th Time in Five Months

Global oil demand next year will be weaker than previously estimated and supply from non-OPEC producers will be bigger, theInternational Energy Agency said.

Consumption will expand by 230,000 barrels a day less than estimated in November, the Paris-based adviser to 29 nations said in a report today. Output from nations outside of the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will grow at a faster pace than the agency predicted last month. Production rising faster than demand could strain some nations' ability to store by the middle of next year, it predicted.

The agency cut projections because the economies of producer nations are being hurt by tumbling prices, the IEA said. Most of the reduction in next year's estimate is attributable to Russia, where sanctions are hobbling growth, it said. Brent crude costs that collapsed 43 percent this year are too low for 10 of OPEC's 12 members to balance their budgets, data compiled by Bloomberg show.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-12/iea-cuts-global-oil-demand-forecast-for-4th-time-in-five-months.html

BLOOMBERG

Ruble Surrounds Nabiullina With Rotten Choices: Russia CreditThe

Russian central bank Governor Elvira Nabiullina is running out of policy options for stabilizing the ruble without inflicting deeper damage to the economy.

On one side, she wants to support the currency to slow inflation and keep Russians from abandoning the ruble. On the other, the scale of interest-rate increases required to do that would further strangle an economy on the verge of a recession, and pile pressure on companies struggling to refinance debt as sanctions cut them off from international capital markets.

Source: http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-12-11/russian-central-bank-keeping-no-one-happy-with-only-bad-options.html