Asia Economics Weekly Korea’s COVID shift, Q1 Outlooks A successful vaccination campaign means that, despite a surge in COVID cases, Korea is sticking with its plans to reopen the economy. This supports our view that Omicron will have only a small impact... 28th January 2022 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Thai tourism boost, new oil price forecasts Better times lie head for Thailand’s tourism industry after the government this week announced it would resume its quarantine-free travel scheme from 1 st February. A recovery in tourism will not only... 21st January 2022 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Korean labour market not as healthy as it looks At face value, the Korean labour market figures for December paint an encouraging picture, with total employment rising to a new record high. However, a detailed examination of data reveals just how... 14th January 2022 · 9 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Philippines in no rush to hike, new growth forecasts Falling inflation and an increasingly uncertain economic outlook add weight to our non-consensus view that the central bank in the Philippines (BSP) will not tighten monetary policy in 2022. Meanwhile... 7th January 2022 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Asia will not follow the Fed Domestic factors, rather than the actions of the US Federal Reserve, will determine what happens to monetary policy across Asia over the coming year. – This will be the last Economics Weekly for 2021... 17th December 2021 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Taiwan in no rush to raise interest rates The central bank of Taiwan is likely to leave interest rates unchanged at its meeting next Thursday (both the consensus and ourselves expect no change). Despite the economy operating well-above its... 10th December 2021 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Inflation exacerbates economic crisis in Sri Lanka The economic situation in Sri Lanka is going from bad to worse, with a surge in inflation undermining the credibility of the central bank (CBSL) and making a debt default all the more likely. 3rd December 2021 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Recent rate hikes not the start of a trend Attention over the past week has been on the region’s more hawkish central banks, following rate hikes in Korea and Pakistan. Both countries, along with Sri Lanka (which unexpectedly left rates... 26th November 2021 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Vaccine progress, external turnaround in Indonesia After a slow start, countries across South East Asia are now making encouraging progress with vaccine rollouts. The rise in coverage should reduce the need for further lockdowns and set the stage for... 19th November 2021 · 9 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly South East Asia disruption eases, Sri Lanka in peril Recent data from Malaysia and Vietnam suggest that virus-related disruption is continuing to ease. This should help alleviate some of the supply constraints currently holding back growth elsewhere in... 12th November 2021 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly The end of king coal, Korea inflation worries If the ambitious targets laid down by the 2015 Paris Agreement are to be met, then global coal consumption will need to fall sharply and eventually be eliminated. This poses a huge challenge for many... 5th November 2021 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Mixed Korea activity data, climate change The latest batch of activity data from Korea indicate that the automotive sector was hit hard by shortages last month, but that the service sector is enjoying a recovery. The provisional Q3 GDP... 29th October 2021 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly GDP to rebound after gloomy Q3 The next few weeks will see the publication of a host of third quarter GDP figures from across the region. While the data are likely to paint a downbeat picture, output should rebound strongly in the... 22nd October 2021 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Asia reopens, more hikes in Korea & Sri Lanka Countries across Emerging Asia are making renewed efforts to reopen their borders to boost flagging tourism sectors. However, the recovery is likely to be very gradual, not least because China (which... 15th October 2021 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Time to worry about inflation? The recent jump in energy prices will put upward pressure on inflation across the region, but the impact should prove short lived and is unlikely to worry policymakers. 8th October 2021 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly PacMan joins the race, baht set for further falls The next presidential election in the Philippines is not until May, but the contest is already generating plenty of headlines with former boxing world champion Manny Pacquiao (PacMan to his fans) this... 1st October 2021 · 5 mins read
