Asia Economics Update Korea's central bank too sanguine on outlook for growth The Bank of Korea (BoK) kept its policy rate at 3.25% today, as expected. Our view is that Korea’s policymakers are likely to shift their focus away from tackling inflation towards supporting growth... 9th February 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update How much will weak export demand weigh on Asia? Exports from Asia have weakened significantly in recent months. Not only are they contracting in y/y terms in many countries, but they have slowed much more sharply compared with other emerging... 8th February 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Manufacturing PMIs signal industrial slowdown has abated Purchasing Managers’ Indices (PMIs) improved for four out of the five economies in Asia (outside Japan and China) for which they were released today. This suggests that the slowdown in industrial... 1st February 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Korea’s weak growth to bring rate cuts soon Today’s Q4 GDP data from Korea show that the economy ended 2011 on a very weak note. Growth is likely to be sluggish at best over the next few quarters amid soft global demand, while Korea’s inflation... 26th January 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Chart Pack Asia's equities outperform in early 2012 Emerging Asia’s equities have risen by more than the global average so far this year, but we do not expect the outperformance to last. Stock markets in Asia typically underperform developed markets... 23rd January 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Inflation has further to fall Inflation rose sharply in 2011 as a whole relative to 2010 across the region. However, we expect below-trend growth and lower commodity prices to pull down inflation significantly this year. With... 23rd January 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Bank of Korea to cut by mid-year The Bank of Korea (BoK) has become increasingly worried about the growth outlook, but lingering inflation concerns are dissuading the central bank from loosening policy. We believe that inflation is... 16th January 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economic Outlook Policy stimulus to support growth in Asia The ongoing debt crisis in the euro-zone is likely to weigh on growth in Asia in 2012-13. Although the region’s most open economies are set to slow quite sharply, we forecast that growth in the region... 12th January 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Elections in Asia - what they mean for the region A number of important elections and leadership changes are due to take place across emerging Asia over the next 12 months. The outcomes will have implications for economic policymaking and growth... 9th January 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Asia PMIs paint mixed picture December PMIs for Asia paint a mixed picture. The surveys suggest manufacturing output returned to growth in Australia, while in contrast to the weakness of recent data, factory output rebounded... 4th January 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Kim Jong-il's death adds to Korean uncertainty Given the lack of transparency in North Korea, it would be unwise to leap to any conclusions following news of Kim Jong-il’s death. Our best guess is that the uncomfortable status quo will continue... 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 Korea and New Zealand central banks too sanguine The government in Vietnam has moved to restructure some of the country’s banks. This comes after a surge in lending in recent years, which has contributed to a rise in bad debt. The non-performing... 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
