On Friday, Iraqi Prime Minister Nouri Maliki resigned, according to the BBC. Despite hopes that a resignation would help end the political crisis in Baghdad, FSG’s Practice Leader for Middle East & North Africa says it’s not over yet.

“Iraq’s political crisis is not over yet, but Nouri al-Maliki’s decision to step aside is a critical development. Companies should watch for whether PM-designate Haider al-Abadi is able to to form a new government that promotes cross-sectarian cooperation. A new government would need to usher in political reforms that ease sectarian tensions to bring Iraq back from the brink of civil war,” says Matthew Spivack.

In Latin America, Mexico’s government has outlined a plan to open oil fields to private companies, providing opportunity for foreign investment, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“The Mexican government is quickly moving forward with the first round of bidding starting early next year, which should provide an early infusion of FDI and support higher investment growth in 2015 ,” says Antonio Martinez, FSG’s Associate Practice Leader for Latin America.

This news comes in the same week as The Economist’s story “Mexico’s minimum wage: Stingy by any measure,” highlighting the low interest in the country’s consumer opportunity over the past two decades.

“Over the last two decades the increase in earning power of Mexican workers has severely lagged most of the other large LATAM economies, and is an important reason why the consumer opportunity in Mexico has not been as attractive to B2C companies as the economy’s size would suggest,” says Antonio Martinez.

In the Asia Pacific region this week, good news for Malaysia’s economy as second quarter growth shows unexpected acceleration on exports, according to Bloomberg.

“Malaysia’s impressive Q2 performance bodes well for the country’s growth over the coming months. The government’s efforts to address bottlenecks in the economy and improve the domestic operating environment are clearly paying dividends,” says Adam Jarczyk, FSG’s Practice Leader for Asia Pacific.

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