Asia Economics Update Malaysia: major challenges await new PM Malaysia’s new prime minister, Ismail Sabri Yaakob, takes over an economy poised to rebound strongly from the COVID-19 pandemic. But the new government looks ill-equipped to deal with the many long... 20th August 2021 · 4 mins read
Emerging Markets Economics Update Emerging Markets Capital Flows Monitor Net capital outflows from major emerging markets have picked up sharply over the past couple of weeks, driven by virus concerns, growing expectations that the Fed will begin tapering asset purchases... 20th August 2021 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Bank of Korea to hike rates next week With new cases of COVID-19 rising, most analysts expect the Bank of Korea (BoK) to leave rates unchanged on Thursday. While it is likely to be a close call, we are sticking with our view that the... 20th August 2021 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Update Sri Lanka: more hikes to come The Central Bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) hiked interest rates today to help support the currency. With the rupee likely to remain under downward pressure over the coming months, further rate hikes are... 19th August 2021 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update Indonesia: rates set for prolonged hold Bank Indonesia left its main policy rate on hold at 3.50% today, and signalled that rates are likely to remain low for the foreseeable future. We think the policy rate will remain unchanged until at... 19th August 2021 · 3 mins read
Emerging Markets Economics Chart Pack Asia bucks the monetary policy trend Several EM central banks have continued to tighten monetary policy over the past month or so in response to strong reopening rebounds (Chile, Czech Republic, Hungary) and/or rising inflation concerns... 18th August 2021 · 10 mins read
Emerging Markets Economics Five years on from the “End of a Golden Age” Five years ago this October, we published a piece arguing that the “golden age” for emerging markets had ended and that they were entering a period of permanently weaker growth. Since then, many of... 18th August 2021 · 4 mins read
Asia Economics Focus Korea: the next 30 years Korea has performed relatively well through the pandemic, and we expect the economy to emerge from the crisis with little lasting damage. However, the long-run outlook is less promising. Although... 17th August 2021 · 16 mins read
Asia Data Response Thailand GDP (Q2) The surprise rise in Thai Q2 GDP is unlikely to be repeated this quarter as cases surge and the vaccine rollout makes only slow progress. The tourism sector is still on its knees, meaning any recovery... 16th August 2021 · 3 mins read
Asia Data Response Malaysia GDP (Q2) Malaysia’s economy shrank by less than most had expected last quarter and while a further worsening in the virus situation means the immediate outlook is poor, rapid progress on vaccination has set... 13th August 2021 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Slow vaccine progress will delay return to normality Slow vaccine rollouts mean the economic disruption from COVID-19 is likely to last well into next year in many countries. There are a few exceptions though. In particular, Singapore has already... 13th August 2021 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Update Philippines central bank to cut rates in September The Philippines’ central bank (BSP) left its main policy rate on hold at 2.00% today, but with inflation fears receding, more rate cuts to support the beleaguered economy are likely soon. 12th August 2021 · 3 mins read
Frontier Markets Wrap Outlook darkens The disbursement of Special Drawing Rights (SDRs) from the IMF later this month is a boon for some Frontier Markets that face very high borrowing costs. But beyond this, it is hard to find many... 10th August 2021 · 3 mins read
Asia Data Response Philippines GDP (Q2) The Philippines’ chances of a strong economic rebound from the contraction recorded in Q2 are looking slim given the new surge in virus cases and the reimposition of containment measures. The... 10th August 2021 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update Baht to weaken further as external deficit widens The worsening prospects for the Thai economy and the shift in the current account from a huge surplus to a sizeable deficit mean the Thai baht is likely to weaken further over the coming year. 6th August 2021 · 3 mins read
Bonds & Equities We doubt valuations will support China’s stock market While measures of the valuation of China’s stock market have fallen recently, we don’t expect them to rebound soon. This helps to underpin our fairly downbeat forecasts for the country’s stock indices... 5th August 2021 · 8 mins read
