Asia Economics Update Korea’s poor demographics are not destiny just yet While Korea’s productivity growth has slowed, this has been offset by faster employment growth as more women and elderly have entered the labour market. If that trend continues and productivity growth... 24th March 2025 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Korea: dovish central bank as political turmoil continues The Bank of Korea’s latest minutes highlight growing concern over the economy. Given the deteriorating outlook, we expect the BoK to cut rates by a further 75bps this year, a more dovish stance than... 21st March 2025 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Duterte in the dock, Korea’s welcome workforce shift The arrest of former President Rodrigo Duterte by the ICC will not have any direct economic consequences, but it shines a light on the deepening political instability in the Philippines, particularly... 14th March 2025 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Jump in Korea’s fertility rate, Indonesia’s new sovereign wealth fund Figures published earlier this week showed the fertility rate in Korea increased last year for the first time in nine years. However, we think this was mainly due to a post-COVID rebound in marriages... 28th February 2025 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Update Korea: further easing coming The Bank of Korea today cut interest rates by a further 25bps (to 2.75%) and made clear that further easing is on the way. With growth set to struggle and inflation likely to remain low, we are... 25th February 2025 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Focus Korea: 1% GDP growth to prompt further rate cuts We expect Korea’s economy to grow by just 1.0% this year, with the political crisis and the downturn in the property sector set to weigh heavily on demand. Our forecast is well below both the... 19th February 2025 · 11 mins read
Asia Economics Update Asia January PMIs, Korea Trade The January PMIs for Asia were generally weak, supporting our view that manufacturing activity and GDP growth in the region are likely to remain below trend in the near term. And with inflation back... 3rd February 2025 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Asia Weekly: How vulnerable is Korea to a second Trump presidency? Our assumption is that Trump will impose a 10% tariff on all US imports (including on Korea), most likely sometime in the second quarter. On its own this would not have a huge impact on Korea, since a... 24th January 2025 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Asia Weekly: Korea’s political crisis, BI’s surprise cut, Trump and Asia There are growing signs that the economy in Korea is being affected by the political crisis. This is one of the key reasons why we think the central bank will resume its easing cycle soon, following... 17th January 2025 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Update Korea: a pause, not an end to the easing cycle The Bank of Korea today left its main policy rate unchanged at 3.00%, but with the economy struggling and inflation under control, we doubt it will be long before the central bank resumes its easing... 16th January 2025 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Asia Weekly: Bank of Korea to cut rates again, free meals in Indonesia With inflation under control and signs the political crisis is weighing on the already-weak economy, we expect the Bank of Korea to cut interest rates by a further 25bps at its meeting on Thursday... 10th January 2025 · 7 mins read
Capital Daily Recent strength in the Korean won could fade further Although the Korean won has strengthened this year, we think its rally will unwind before long. 8th January 2025 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update Korea’s political crisis deepens Korea’s political crisis deepened today after parliament voted to impeach acting president, Han Duck-soo, just two weeks after President Yoon Suk Yeol was himself impeached following his shock... 27th December 2024 · 3 mins read
