Asia Economics Update Regional manufacturing set for prolonged weakness The August PMIs showed that Asia’s manufacturers are continuing to struggle. With global demand set to remain weak, we see little prospect of a strong recovery. However, policy loosening should... 3rd September 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Asia's consumers far from immune to global problems We expect global demand to stay weak in coming quarters and for labour markets and consumer confidence in Asia to soften as a result. Central banks in the region are likely to ease further, which... 31st August 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Growth remains weak in India, pick up unlikely soon Today’s GDP data from India show that although the y/y rate of growth increased, the economy remains very weak. India’s economic troubles are mostly self-inflicted and result from policy paralysis... 31st August 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Scandal highlights problems with Vietnam's banking sector The arrest last week of two well-connected businessmen has helped to highlight the worsening problems in Vietnam’s banking sector, which has seen a sharp rise in non-performing loans and a slump in... 30th August 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Growth in the Philippines remains strong, but will it last? GDP growth in the Philippines remained strong in Q2, with the pace of expansion slowing only slightly compared with Q1. Both domestic demand and exports continued to grow at a healthy pace. But with... 30th August 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Indonesia's worsening current account raises currency risks Indonesia has seen a sharp deterioration of its current account position over the past year. Large inflows of foreign direct investment mean the country should have few problems sustaining the deficit... 29th August 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Is Malaysia stuck in a middle-income trap? Malaysia’s government is hoping that its Economic Transformation Programme (ETP) will take the country to high-income status by the end of this decade. Structural problems and sluggish global growth... 29th August 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly What would QE3 mean for Asia? The minutes of the US Federal Reserve’s August meeting strongly suggested that the Fed will embark on a third round of quantitative easing (QE3) in September. This week’s lead article assesses the... 24th August 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Chart Pack Domestic resilience amid global slowdown Over the past few weeks, Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand all reported GDP data that were better than the consensus expected, reflecting strong domestic demand helping to offset export weakness... 22nd August 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update ASEAN outperformance set to continue Thanks mainly to strong domestic demand, economic growth in ASEAN has held up much better than in the rest of Asia so far this year. Although weaker exports will weigh on demand in the coming quarters... 21st August 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Thailand’s post-flood rebound to give way to subdued trend Today’s Q2 GDP figures from Thailand were better than the consensus had expected. Nonetheless, we still think that growth will be sluggish over the next few quarters and that the Bank of Thailand (BoT... 20th August 2012 · 1 min read
Commodities Update Will weak emerging market demand prevent a gold rally? Demand in China and India, the world’s two largest gold consumers, has been unusually been weak in recent months, which has dragged gold prices lower. However, we expect another escalation of the euro... 20th August 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Asia’s exports make a poor start to Q3 Asia’s export weakness is showing no signs of abating. Indeed, the July trade data reported so far across the region suggest that the export slowdown has deepened. 17th August 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Taiwan-China trade agreements are not a big deal Efforts by policymakers in Taiwan and China to strengthen their economic ties have had a negligible impact on Taiwan’s merchandise exports to the mainland, although Taiwan has benefitted in some other... 16th August 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Malaysia proving resilient to global slowdown Today’s GDP data show that Malaysia’s growth unexpectedly increased in Q2, with strong domestic demand more than offsetting export weakness. We are raising our 2012 growth forecast and no longer... 15th August 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update India mired in stagflation The latest output and inflation data suggest India is now suffering from stagflation. Industrial production has stopped growing while inflation is stuck at around 7%. What’s more, there is little... 14th August 2012 · 1 min read
