Mark Bohlund
mbohlund.bsky.social
Mark Bohlund
@mbohlund.bsky.social
Sovereign debt for REDD Intelligence, ex-Africa Economist for Bloomberg, IHS. Interests in Africa, governance, macroeconomics.
This Nick Robinson interview with Vitali Klitschko looks like AI. Don't think it is but not sure why it looks so weird. www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m...
BBC News - Political Thinking with Nick Robinson, Series 2, Vitali Klitschko
How did a heavyweight champion end up running a city of three million people in wartime?
www.bbc.co.uk
January 30, 2026 at 12:39 PM
"history is seldom, if ever, clear cut and in challenging certain national myths, she may be erecting others. She seems to regard history as a form of mythography: an exercise in confecting stories about the past as a way of defining our identity in the present" www.historytoday.com/archive/port...
Olga Tokarczuk and the Edge of Poland
www.historytoday.com
January 29, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Eurobond likely to follow. "The upgrade to B3 reflects our view that #Kenya's near-term default risk has declined. External liquidity has strengthened, reflected in higher foreign-exchange reserves, a narrower current account deficit, and more stable exchange rate." www.moodys.com/research/Moo...
Moody's - credit ratings, research, and data for global capital markets
www.moodys.com
January 27, 2026 at 10:01 PM
"Credit unions were absent in Canada at the start of the 20th century. Yet, membership of credit unions became commonplace and, in Quebec, grew to encompass the vast majority of the population by the end of the century." tontinecoffeehouse.com/2026/01/26/d...
Desjardins and Quebec’s Credit Union Movement - The Tontine Coffee-House
The success of credit unions in Canada owes a lot to one person, among the most important in the creation of cooperative credit organizations, Alphonse Desjardins.
tontinecoffeehouse.com
January 27, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Is Industry 4:2 best described as Barry Lyndon on crack?
January 24, 2026 at 8:27 PM
"Gross FX reserves rose to USD205bn in mid-January from USD155bn at end-2024. Net reserves excl swaps recovered more strongly to USD78bn from a low of -USD66bn in March 2024, as the unwinding of swaps with local banks from 1H24 improved the quality of reserves"
www.fitchratings.com/research/sov...
www.fitchratings.com
January 24, 2026 at 8:58 AM
Reposted by Mark Bohlund
Europe has more options over Greenland than might appear from the Risk board:
www.bloomberg.com/opinion/news...
Greenland Isn't as Big as It Looks in 'Risk'
Europe has it in its power to force a messy compromise with capital flows, not troops.
www.bloomberg.com
January 20, 2026 at 3:20 PM
Reposted by Mark Bohlund
In Accra for Ghana’s independence, VP Nixon “turned to the nearest Black man, slapped him on the shoulder, and asked what it felt like to be free. “I wouldn’t know, sir,” the man replied. “I’m from Alabama.””
January 19, 2026 at 12:33 PM
With the yield on #Kenya’s 8% 2032 Eurobond having fallen to a four-year low of 7.3% and revenues lagging, it wouldn't be surprising if they're back in the market, likely for a maturity in the late 2030s, before conducting a securitization transaction. www.zawya.com/en/economy/a...
Eurobond back on the table as Kenya’s spending pressures mount
Domestic debt now accounts for 53.5 percent of total public debt, up from 51 percent a year earlier
www.zawya.com
January 19, 2026 at 10:35 AM
Bravo Senegal ! Brought it home despite some quite severe regulatory adversity. Hoping the same for the government with its debt issues.
January 18, 2026 at 9:59 PM
Reposted by Mark Bohlund
If you listen very carefully, you can hear Charles de Gaulle screaming I BLOODY TOLD YOU SO from some rural French cemetery.
January 17, 2026 at 5:59 PM
"Eyewitness and survivor accounts, leaked police files, ballistics reports and geolocation data indicate the use of lethal force. Survivors and eyewitnesses told DW that unarmed civilians were gunned down and soldiers later removed the bodies." #Tanzania #Mwanza www.dw.com/en/dw-exclus...
DW exclusive: Post-election violence in Tanzania's Mwanza
What happened in Tanzania during the unrest that followed the October election remains unclear. New evidence points to killings and grave human rights abuses by security forces in the second largest c...
www.dw.com
January 17, 2026 at 11:29 AM
Reposted by Mark Bohlund
This was such a brilliant series - I wish the BBC would put it on the iPlayer. I've got the DVDs somewhere; I must watch it again. (The DVD box set is still available on Amazon, btw; I just checked.)
It was 30 years ago today that BBC Two transmitted the opening episode of Our Friends in the North - one of the greatest television dramas the BBC has ever made.

For the anniversary, I've been down to Caversham to take a look through the show's files and explore some of the tales they tell...
Our Friends in the North
30 years on from the first episode of this groundbreaking drama, we take a closer look into the programme’s archive to reveal a time capsule of a turbulent era.
www.bbc.co.uk
January 15, 2026 at 10:32 AM
#Kenya Rotting Among the Tetse in the Mau Mau Rebellion www.historytoday.com/archive/behi... via @HistoryToday
Rotting Among the Tetse in the Mau Mau Rebellion
www.historytoday.com
January 13, 2026 at 6:28 PM
Notable but not surprising that most of the funds the IMF and World Bank lent to the Republic of Congo in 2021-2025 went to pay off Glencore, Trafigura and other oil traders. Given that these oil traders tend to become super-senior in debt restructurings, it was perhaps needed for Eurobond sale.
January 12, 2026 at 8:25 AM
Reposted by Mark Bohlund
This is a major move relating to sovereign debt restructuring options for #Venezuela; one wonders how it could impact the protracted sale of Citgo (PDVSA owned) & potential precedents for other countries where unresolved claims are an overhang. www.whitehouse.gov/presidential...
Safeguarding Venezuelan Oil Revenue for the Good of the American and Venezuelan People
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, including the International Emergency
www.whitehouse.gov
January 10, 2026 at 6:30 PM
Central bank data shows Argentina increased its debt with “international organisations” by roughly the same amount as repaid to the US Treasury. “We still don’t know where the central bank got the dollars to pay or if the terms are better or worse than the swap” www.ft.com/content/b721...
Argentina repays US financial lifeline as Milei emerges from market crisis
Buenos Aires hands back $2.5bn it drew under swap line ahead of pivotal election in October
www.ft.com
January 10, 2026 at 10:26 AM
"Washington’s underlying objective in both cases was the same: to reassert control over property rights and strategic resources. For many Latin Americans, this reinforces the enduring belief that, doctrines aside, power politics in the region remain stubbornly familiar." www.ft.com/content/8791...
Trump’s Venezuela operation echoes the CIA’s Chile playbook
The US move against Maduro has eerie parallels to the coup that ousted Salvador Allende in 1973
www.ft.com
January 7, 2026 at 4:37 PM
1. Direct fiscal support stabilised at 0.8% of GDP 2. China is an active subsidy user with striking policy persistence 3. FDI-promoting subsidies have fallen while industry-specific rose 4. Wealthier provinces provide more local subsidies 5. Agriculture dominates by value. cepr.org/voxeu/column...
Two decades of Chinese industrial subsidies
China's industrial policy has become a central flashpoint in global trade debates, yet systematic evidence on what China actually does remains scarce. This column reveals five key findings from a new database covering China's WTO subsidy notifications from 2001 to 2022: (1) direct fiscal support stabilised around 0.8% of GDP after 2008; (2) China is an active subsidy user with striking policy persistence; (3) FDI-promoting subsidies have declined while industry-specific and innovation-focused support has risen; (4) wealthier, more open provinces provide more local subsidies; and (5) agriculture dominates by value while manufacturing subsidies are modest. These patterns reveal how China's subsidy strategy has evolved from attracting foreign capital towards technological self-reliance.
cepr.org
January 7, 2026 at 11:32 AM
"Financial globalisation since the 1990s has led to large holdings of cross-border assets and liabilities in many countries. This column analyses the yields on assets & liabilities for 20 advanced & 22 emerging economies in 1999-2023, which have been rising from 2020." cepr.org/voxeu/column...
Drivers of international primary income balances
Financial globalisation since the 1990s has led to large holdings of cross-border assets and liabilities in many countries. This column analyses the yields on assets and liabilities for 20 advanced and 22 emerging economies over 1999-2023, and finds that they were on a mostly downward trend, before increasing from 2020. Yields are driven by movements in exchange rates and interest rates, with significant heterogeneity across types of investments. Furthermore, the net impact of recent interest rate increases on income balances can vary greatly depending on the specific composition of assets and liabilities.
cepr.org
January 7, 2026 at 11:28 AM
Boys with toys... looking forward to MBS's tactical nous being applied to Newcastle's set-piece formations.
January 6, 2026 at 9:39 PM
Reposted by Mark Bohlund
Went to check if this screenshot (posted by @aric.bsky.social) was real (it is) and then made the mistake of also scrolling through Grok's replies on X. Still constantly cranking out sexualised images of young girls. Beyond bleak.
January 5, 2026 at 11:22 AM
Reposted by Mark Bohlund
Who’s who at X, the deepfake porn site formerly known as Twitter.

Featuring illustrations by Grok, because “pixels 🟰 zero harm” apparently. www.ft.com/content/ad94...
January 6, 2026 at 10:26 AM
Reposted by Mark Bohlund
On your Nobel Peace Prize application, under Weaknesses, you've put 'Refused to allow the previous winner to take power in Venezuela'?
January 5, 2026 at 1:34 PM