Asia Economics Weekly New currency forecasts, Taiwan’s tourism woes Having previously expected equity and currency markets to fall sharply across Emerging Asia before the end of the year, we have revised our forecasts and now expect financial markets to remain broadly... 1st November 2019 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Taiwan outperforming, RRR cuts in the Philippines In contrast to the rest of the region, where growth has recently been touching post-financial crisis lows, Taiwan’s economy has rebounded strongly over the past year. GDP figures due to be published... 25th October 2019 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Stimulus in Korea, Jokowi’s second term, IMF forecasts GDP figures due to be released next week are likely to show Korea’s economy remained very subdued in Q3 – we have pencilled in growth of just 0.4% q/q. But with fiscal and monetary policy being... 18th October 2019 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Baht set to remain strong, fiscal tightening in Malaysia The authorities in Thailand this week unveiled a couple of further measures designed to put downward pressure on the currency. But unless more is done to reduce the country’s large current account... 11th October 2019 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Growth stable in Q3, Malaysia’s 2020 budget Countries from across the region are due to publish third quarter GDP figures over the coming weeks. The latest monthly data suggest that after slowing sharply in the first half of the year, economic... 4th October 2019 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Weak Singapore data, loosening in the Philippines The poor recent performance of manufacturing in Singapore increases the chance that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will loosen policy aggressively at its meeting next month. Meanwhile, in... 27th September 2019 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Indonesia corruption concerns, new Pakistan forecasts Indonesia’s parliament has approved changes to how the country’s anti-corruption body (KPK) is governed, a move which could weaken its powers to investigate new corruption allegations. Meanwhile... 20th September 2019 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Strong baht, more RCEP delays Despite the worries of policymakers, there is little evidence that the strong baht is to blame for the weakness of exports. While Thai exports have struggled this year, they have performed broadly in... 13th September 2019 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Deflation in Korea, rate cut likely in the Philippines Despite headline inflation in Korea dropping into negative territory in August, we don’t think there is much risk of a prolonged period of deflation. Meanwhile, a sharp drop in inflation last month in... 6th September 2019 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Korea budget boost, inflation remains low in August The announcement yesterday of plans for a large fiscal boost in Korea’s draft 2020 budget has led us to revise up our Korea growth forecast for next year to 2.5%, from 2.0% previously. That said, we... 30th August 2019 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Fiscal caution in the Philippines and Indonesia Despite the poor outlook for economic growth and relatively healthy fiscal positions, the Philippines and Indonesia have both recently unveiled relatively cautious budgets for 2020. 23rd August 2019 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Global recession fears, Indonesia to move capital city Weak data earlier this week from China and Europe and the fall in long term bond yields in the US have helped raise fears of a sharp slowdown in global economic growth. But even if the global economy... 16th August 2019 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly New currency forecasts, trade war escalates, rate cuts While we had been expecting an escalation in US-China trade tensions, China’s decision to allow the renminbi to weaken through 7.0/US$ in response to Trump’s latest tariffs means events are moving... 8th August 2019 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Mixed Q2 GDP figures, China tourism clampdown For the countries that have already reported second quarter GDP figures, the numbers have been a mixed bag – growth picked up in Korea and Taiwan, but slowed in Singapore and Hong Kong. We only have a... 2nd August 2019 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly MAS to loosen soon, Malaysia restarts rail project The recent deterioration in the economic data from Singapore adds weight to our view that monetary policy will be loosened before the central bank’s next scheduled meeting in mid-October. Meanwhile... 26th July 2019 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Korea minimum wage U-turn, who will cut rates next? Having hiked the minimum wage aggressively in 2018 and 2019, the Korean government earlier this week announced a very small increase in the minimum wage for next year. The policy shift comes in... 19th July 2019 · 6 mins read
