Asia Economics Weekly India set to lift rates again later this month India data released last week showed industrial production growth slowed sharply in late 2010 while the annual gain in wholesale prices picked up. The Reserve Bank (RBI) will respond to the latter by... 17th January 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update The Bank of Korea still has more work to do The Bank of Korea (BoK) lifted its policy rate by 25bp to 2.75% today, which was in line with our forecast but surprised the consensus. Policymakers have rightly become more focused on inflation and... 13th January 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Bank of Thailand to continue tightening The Bank of Thailand (BoT) raised its policy rate by 25bp to 2.25% today, as expected. Growth is likely to pick up during the course of this year, and will be led by strengthening domestic demand and... 12th January 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Sri Lanka goes for growth The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) unexpectedly cut its two policy rates at today’s meeting. Inflation accelerated at the end of last year while the economic upswing is set to stay strong... 11th January 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update How will the floods in Australia affect the economy? The flooding in Queensland continues to devastate communities and businesses but it is still most likely that the impact on Australia’s economy as a whole will be relatively small and temporary... 11th January 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Bank of Korea set to hike policy rates again We expect Korea’s central bank to lift its policy rate by 25bp to 2.75% on Thursday. This is in contrast to the consensus view which forecasts no change. The worst of the slowdown looks to have come... 10th January 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Indonesia continues to manage capital inflows Indonesia has introduced more macro prudential measures to regulate the foreign liabilities of the banking sector. This is a sound strategy which will limit the extent to which any sudden change in... 6th January 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update To avoid crisis, policy in Vietnam needs to change soon The authorities in Vietnam continue to give mixed signals on what they will do in 2011. This should not be a big surprise ahead of the important National Party Congress which will take place next week... 6th January 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Pakistan; just when you thought the situation could not worsen Political instability, which is never far away in Pakistan, has risen following this week’s assassination of the governor of Punjab province and the withdrawal of another party from the ruling... 5th January 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update The first Indonesia rate hike looks close Bank Indonesia (BI) left its reference rate unchanged today at 6.5%, as was universally expected. Nevertheless, the reference rate is now negative in real terms while inflation will probably... 5th January 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Asia's industrial slowdown past its worst point The manufacturing PMIs for December, released yesterday and today, improved in Taiwan and Korea and stayed above 50 in India and Singapore. Industrial activity across the region should gain traction... 4th January 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Expect another year of Singapore dollar gains Singapore data published yesterday and today showed Q4 GDP rebounded in q/q terms, residential property prices climbed too, while the December PMI also suggests that manufacturing will continue to... 4th January 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Vietnam likely to target stability over growth Data published in Vietnam over the next few days should confirm that the economy expanded at a rapid pace in Q4 but inflation remains far too high. What’s more, recent debt downgrades have highlighted... 27th December 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update New Zealand's recovery stumbles but should not stop Q3 GDP, published early today, was weak and in line with our below-consensus expectation. Nevertheless, most of the softness was due to temporary factors. The upswing will probably regain traction in... 23rd December 2010 · 1 min read
Global Economics Update What will 2011 hold for emerging markets? We expect growth in emerging economies to stay strong in 2011 and, generally speaking, the major challenge facing policymakers will be to ensure that inflation remains contained and that capital... 22nd December 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly New Zealand's upswing to regain traction soon New Zealand Q3 GDP data, published overnight on Thursday, are expected to be weak. We forecast that GDP actually fell in q/q terms while the consensus anticipates only 0.1% q/q growth, after an... 20th December 2010 · 1 min read
