Asia Economics Weekly Does the US still matter to Asia? The recent run of improved data from the US has led us to raise our US GDP growth forecasts for 2012 and 2013. But we believe that improved prospects for the US will make little difference to emerging... 19th March 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update How have last year's natural disasters affected Asia? Asia was hit by several natural disasters in 2011, most notably the tsunami that struck Japan in mid- March. These events were foremost human tragedies, but they also had an economic impact. While... 12th March 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Global upturn stays Malaysian central bank’s hand Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) held its policy rate at 3% today, as was expected. Inflation has eased in the last four months, but a general improvement in economic data both at home and abroad has... 9th March 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Policymakers in wait-and-see mode The trend in Asia has been towards loosening policy recently. However, signs of stronger global growth and the pick-up in oil prices are likely to persuade central banks across the region to keep... 5th March 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Capital inflows are a threat to Asia The return of global risk appetite has helped to push up asset prices across Asia. If we are correct that the crisis in the euro-zone will worsen again later this year, global risk appetite is likely... 28th February 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update How vulnerable is Asia to high oil prices? Recent oil price increases are not a big threat to emerging Asia. The inflationary impact will be small even if prices remain at current levels. Asian economies are relatively oil-dependent but their... 28th February 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Chart Pack Risks to growth still skewed to the downside Almost all countries in emerging Asia have now released their Q4 GDP figures. Growth slowed across most of the region, mainly due to weakness in external demand. The recent improvement in the US, a... 23rd February 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Focus How would emerging Asia cope with a euro break-up? The major impact of euro-zone break-up on emerging Asia would come from the resulting weakness of export demand. If the break-up was relatively smooth and the US continued to grow, as we think is... 23rd February 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update How bad were the Q4 GDP data for emerging Asia? Economic growth in the final quarter of last year was disappointing for most economies in emerging Asia. Although risks to growth are generally on the downside, a closer look at Q4 GDP data suggests... 22nd February 2012 · 1 min read
Global Economics Focus How well will growth in emerging economies hold up? Emerging Asia and Latin America should continue to grow relatively fast even if the euro-zone slides into prolonged recession, as long as the US avoids the same fate. The outlook for emerging Europe... 16th February 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Malaysia facing a tough year ahead Malaysia’s economy grew at a slower pace in Q4 than it did in Q3, in line with the regional trend. We expect Malaysia to suffer a double hit from softer exports and lower commodity prices this year... 15th February 2012 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Asia’s buoyant labour markets Asia’s rapid economic rebound following the 2008-09 global crisis has led to sharp falls in unemployment over the past couple of years. This has raised hopes that robust household spending will... 13th 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 Malaysia’s policy rate likely to be cut this year Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) kept its overnight rate at 3.0% today, as was widely anticipated. Looking ahead, we think that Malaysia’s exports will struggle and that inflation is likely to fall further... 31st 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 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
