Asia Economics Update RBNZ to resume tightening by year-end As expected, the Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) left its policy rate on hold at 2.5% today, after cutting by 50bp last month in response to the Christchurch earthquakes. Admittedly, the RBNZ will... 28th April 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Korea's resilient growth warrants further policy tightening Korea's economy grew at a faster pace in Q1, broadly in line with expectations. Despite greater uncertainty about global demand, we think policy-makers are right to worry more about inflation than... 27th April 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update More monetary tightening to come in Thailand The Bank of Thailand (BoT) hiked its policy rate by 25bp to 2.75% today, as was universally expected. As with elsewhere in the region, keeping a lid on inflation remains the key concern for... 20th April 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Another jump in Indian inflation confirms case for rate hikes Inflation data released today strengthen the case for the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to continue raising rates. We expect the repo rate to be hiked in May, followed by even more tightening this year. 15th April 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Singapore's central bank done with policy tightening in 2011 The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) tightened policy today by re-centring its exchange rate target band at a higher level. Q1 GDP figures, also released today, were very strong and show that... 14th April 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update More policy tightening on the way in Sri Lanka The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) left its two key interest rates unchanged today, as was widely anticipated, but tightened policy by increasing its reserve requirement ratio. Unlike other central... 12th April 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Bank Indonesia to resume rate hikes soon Bank Indonesia (BI) left its reference rate at 6.75% today, as was universally expected. Nonetheless, inflation remains uncomfortably high while the economy is set to grow at an above-trend pace in... 12th April 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Korea’s monetary policy tightening has further to go The Bank of Korea (BoK) kept its base rate at 3.0% today, as expected. The strengthening won is doing some of the heavy-lifting in terms of policy tightening, but the central bank will not want to... 12th April 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia's monetary tightening will resume this year The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held its cash rate at 4.75% today, as was universally expected. Nonetheless, above-trend GDP growth still looks likely in 2011-12 and will eventually lift price... 5th April 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Asia's manufacturing growth slow Manufacturing PMIs for March, released overnight and today, remained buoyant for India, but declined in Korea, Taiwan and dropped even more sharply in Australia. New export orders accelerated for both... 1st April 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Taiwan rate outlook hinges on property Following today’s expected rate hike, the outlook for monetary policy in Taiwan depends largely on what happens to property prices. As things stand, rates are likely to rise again at the next... 31st March 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Sri Lanka set to sustain above-trend growth this year Data released today show that Sri Lanka’s economy grew by 8.0% in 2010 as a whole, as we had long been expecting. The central bank (CBSL) left policy rates unchanged at its meeting in March, but we... 30th March 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Vietnam to continue focusing on inflation risks Vietnam’s Q1 GDP figures were released today and show that growth eased at the start of the year. We expect the expansion to stay on a weaker track this year given policymakers’ ongoing efforts to... 29th March 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Pakistan's economic reforms push back monetary tightening The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) left its policy rate unchanged at 14.0% over the weekend. The fiscal adjustment programme appears to be back on track and means that there is less urgency for SBP to... 28th March 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update More rate hikes on the way in the Philippines The Philippines’ central bank (BSP) raised its key policy rate by 25bp to 4.25% today, as expected. Rising food and fuel prices suggest that inflation will continue to accelerate in coming months and... 24th March 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update New Zealand set for a challenging year Today’s Q4 GDP figures confirm that New Zealand’s recovery was struggling to gain traction at the end of last year. Growth will be weak in the near term following the recent earthquakes, but we expect... 24th March 2011 · 1 min read
