Asia Economics Weekly Indonesia's upgrade highlights improved outlook In a good week for Indonesia, Fitch upgraded the country’s long-term sovereign debt rating to investment grade on Thursday and parliament passed a long-awaited land acquisition bill on Friday. Both... 19th December 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Chart Pack Exports weaken amid global slowdown Exports from the region have been weak due to lower demand from the West. However, domestic demand has so far remained fairly resilient across the region. Central banks in Australia and Thailand have... 15th December 2011 · 1 min read
China Economics Update How vulnerable is Asia to a euro-zone banking crisis? The impact on emerging Asia of a fall in lending by euro-zone banks to the region would be small. However, Asia would be vulnerable if the crisis in the euro-zone caused global credit markets to... 15th December 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Interest rates in Indonesia to come down further next year After cutting interest rates by a cumulative 75bp at its last two meetings, Bank Indonesia (BI) kept its key reference rate on hold today, as expected. However, with inflation continuing to fall and... 8th December 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Asian currencies to remain undervalued Most Asian currencies looked weak even before the falls of the past few months. We expect them to fall further over the coming year as the euro-zone crisis intensifies. And even when global risk... 5th December 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update What would a euro-zone break-up mean for Asian markets? Following changes to our assumption about the timing of an EMU break-up, we have revised down our forecasts for emerging Asia’s currency and equity markets for next year. However, we see both... 2nd December 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly How well will domestic demand hold up? Hopes that Asia had de-coupled from the rest of the world were dashed during the 2008-09 global crisis, as domestic demand fell almost as sharply as exports. However, there are good reasons to expect... 28th November 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Focus Is emerging Asia experiencing a property price bubble? Although Asia as a whole is not experiencing a property price bubble, we believe that prices in Hong Kong and Taipei are now in bubble territory. There is a growing risk of a sharp correction in these... 25th November 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Chart Pack Growth falters in Q3 With the exception of Indonesia, Q3 GDP figures published across emerging Asia so far have been weak. Exports have been hit by low demand from the West, and growing fears for the global outlook are... 17th November 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly How important are remittances for emerging Asia? Concern is growing that the ongoing debt problems in the euro-zone could lead to another global financial and economic crisis. Remittances should provide a relatively stable source of income... 14th November 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Bank Indonesia is cutting rates too aggressively Bank Indonesia (BI) unexpectedly cut its policy rate today by 50bp to 6.0%. Following a 25bp cut last month, strong third quarter GDP growth and continued rapid credit expansion, we think the central... 10th November 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Indonesia's economy to outperform Indonesia’s economy continued to grow strongly in the third quarter amid buoyant domestic demand and booming exports. Although global demand looks unlikely to remain so supportive for long, Indonesia... 7th November 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Where and why we differ from the consensus We have below-consensus forecasts for interest rates and GDP growth in emerging Asia next year. The main reason for the difference relates to our views on growth in the developed world and commodity... 7th November 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Assessing the fallout from Thailand's flood disaster Thailand’s flood situation deteriorated in early November, with water breaking through defences and flowing further into Bangkok and its surrounding provinces. Agriculture, manufacturing and tourism... 7th November 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update How vulnerable is Indonesia to a global financial crisis? In the event of a global financial crisis stemming from the sovereign debt problems in Europe, there will be major concerns over Indonesia’s exposure to volatile capital flows, its vulnerability to... 25th October 2011 · 1 min read
Global Economics Focus Sovereign Debt: are the emerging markets immune? Emerging markets are not immune from the deepening debt crisis in the developed world, but most are well-placed to deal with the fallout. China faces a difficult structural transition of its own but... 21st October 2011 · 1 min read