Asia Economics Update Bank Indonesia to resume rate hikes later this year Bank Indonesia (BI) kept its reference rate at 6.75% today, as expected. Declining headline inflation and greater uncertainty about the outlook for the global economy were the two main factors behind... 13th July 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update How big a worry is the suspension of US aid for Pakistan? The US government announced on Sunday that it has suspended $800m in military aid to Pakistan amid a further deterioration in the relationship between the two countries. The announcement is clearly a... 12th July 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Sri Lanka’s central bank focused on supporting growth The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) kept its policy rates on hold today, as expected. Growth slowed at the start of the year due to heavy floods, while headline inflation has been trending lower and... 9th July 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Malaysia’s monetary tightening has not ended Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) kept its policy rate at 3.0% today whereas both we and the consensus had anticipated a 25bp hike. Malaysia’s central bank instead opted to raise its reserve requirement... 8th July 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia’s cash rate more likely to rise than fall The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held its cash rate at 4.75% today, as was widely anticipated. A run of poor economic data has prompted market participants to expect that the next move in the cash... 6th July 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Taiwan’s slow tightening cycle still has far to go Taiwan’s slow pace of interest rate hikes is likely to continue into next year against a backdrop of strong economic growth and lingering property price concerns. 1st July 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update More policy tightening to come in the Philippines The Philippines’ central bank (BSP) unexpectedly left its overnight rate at 4.5% today, but it did tighten policy settings by hiking its reserve-requirement ratio. Growth in 2011-12 looks set to be... 17th June 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Reserve Bank of India hikes again, but not for last time The Reserve Bank of India’s (RBI) decision to raise its repo rate by 25bp to 7.5% from today was widely expected following the further rise in inflation in May. We now expect inflation to peak at... 17th June 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Sri Lanka's central bank likely to tighten later this year The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) kept its policy rates on hold today, as expected. Core inflation is low, but current policy settings are very accommodative while the economy is set for another... 15th June 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Bank Indonesia to tighten again this year Bank Indonesia (BI) kept its reference rate at 6.75% today, as was widely anticipated. The central bank is still relying on rupiah appreciation to ease the blow from higher commodity prices... 9th June 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia's cash rate still likely to be hiked this year The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held its cash rate at 4.75% today, as expected. The global economy looks to be slowing, but above-trend growth is nonetheless still likely in Australia and there is... 7th June 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Pakistan's fiscal target may prove difficult to achieve Pakistan’s federal budget was announced late last week with the aim to narrow the chronic fiscal deficit. The government is rightly looking to broaden the tax base and scale back subsidies, but... 6th June 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Emerging Asia PMIs fall but still point to industrial growth Purchasing Managers’ Indices (PMIs) released today for India, Korea, Taiwan, Singapore and Australia all worsened. However, the declines were generally small. These data suggest that manufacturing... 1st June 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia's economic weakness will not last long Today’s Q1 GDP data show that Australia’s economy contracted in early 2011 at its fastest pace since the 1991 recession. However, the weakness was down to local floods and Cyclone Yasi. Growth will... 1st June 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Thailand's central bank to continue raising repo rate The Bank of Thailand (BoT) hiked its policy rate by 25bp to 3.0% today, as expected. The economy grew at an above-trend pace at the start of the year, while price pressures should continue to mount in... 1st June 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update India's growth is set to ease further, but only temporarily GDP numbers released today show that growth in India eased slightly in Q1 2011. We expect it to fall further in the first six months of this financial year, which runs from April 2011 to March 2012... 31st May 2011 · 1 min read
