Asia Economics Weekly Korea vaccinations surge, Philippines rate cuts loom A surge in vaccinations in Korea has brightened the prospects for the consumer recovery and strengthened our view that the central bank will be able to begin tightening monetary policy this year. In... 4th June 2021 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Oil prices and inflation, fiscal support in Taiwan Fuel price inflation across Emerging Asia will drop back over the coming months as last year’s low base starts to drop out of the annual comparison. With large output gaps set to keep underlying price... 28th May 2021 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Exports continuing to boom as Asia shuts down Asian exports reached another record high last month. Strong demand for electronics, especially semiconductors, has been the key factor driving demand higher. But exports of other items, including... 21st May 2021 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Singapore lockdown, improvement in Korea Singapore has announced several tough new measures to contain a sudden jump in COVID-19 infections. The restrictions will cause economic activity to drop in the near term, but the falls should be... 14th May 2021 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Forecast cut in Thailand, spill-overs from India The outlook for Thailand’s economy has gone from bad to worse, with a sudden jump in COVID-19 cases leading to the introduction of new virus restrictions. We are cutting our forecast for Thai GDP... 7th May 2021 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Weak consumption holding back recovery in Korea Korea’s Q1 GDP data showed that while output surpassed its pre-pandemic level last quarter, private consumption remained depressed. With COVID-19 infections still running at around 650 a day, consumer... 30th April 2021 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Travel troubles, virus surge prompts forecast cuts Delays to the Hong Kong-Singapore travel bubble will have no direct implications for either economy, but the problems in getting the scheme off the ground demonstrate how difficult it is proving to... 23rd April 2021 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Taiwan’s semiconductor boom, Korea uncertainty Booming demand for semiconductors is prompting us to raise our Taiwan growth forecast for this year from 4.5% to 5.0%. This is well above the consensus of just 4.2%. Meanwhile, labour market data... 16th April 2021 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Moon eclipsed, AstraZeneca uncertainty Wednesday’s landslide defeat for President Moon’s Democratic Party (DP) in key mayoral elections in Korea suggest that it faces an uphill battle to retain the presidency in next year’s vote. Defeat... 9th April 2021 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Strong Q1 for Korea, tourism reopening plans The recent activity data point to an acceleration in Korean GDP growth in the first quarter. Meanwhile, Indonesia and Thailand have announced plans to accelerate the reopening of their tourism sectors... 1st April 2021 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Singapore loosens restrictions, new markets forecasts Singapore announced a further loosening of containment measures this week but given that social distancing is no longer a major drag on the economy, they are unlikely to provide much of a boost to the... 26th March 2021 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Korea labour market improves, BSP dilemma The sharp drop in Korean unemployment last month suggests that the economy is bouncing back following a fall in COVID-19 infections and the easing of containment measures. Following GDP growth of 1.2%... 19th March 2021 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Philippines outlook worsens, Taiwan in the dock We are lowering our 2021 GDP growth forecast for the Philippines due to the worsening virus situation and the recent deterioration in the economic data. A rapid increase in foreign currency... 12th March 2021 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Korea’s latest fiscal stimulus, Philippines inflation Korea today announced that it was stepping up its support for the economy with a new supplementary budget worth 15trn won (around 0.8% of GDP). Government spending this year is now set to be 3% higher... 5th March 2021 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Financial market sell-off, impact of Biden stimulus The sell-off in Asian financial markets gathered pace today on the back of concerns that President Biden’s fiscal stimulus package could prompt the US Fed to start raising interest rates. We don’t... 26th February 2021 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly The Asian century, little to fear from higher oil prices We recently launched our new service, The Long Run, which includes detailed forecasts out to 2050 for 58 economies. One of the key points that comes out from the forecasts is that Emerging Asia is set... 19th February 2021 · 7 mins read
