Asia Economics Update South East Asia rebounding, but disruption set to linger Disruption to industrial activity across South East Asia has eased considerably in the past few weeks, helping to relax global supply constraints, especially in the automotive sector. However, a... 1st December 2021 · 2 mins read
Emerging Markets Economics Update The Omicron variant and the threat to EMs There’s a lot that we don’t know about the new Omicron variant. But if it proves more virulent, the economic fallout would probably be largest in EMs in parts of Africa and South and South East Asia... 29th November 2021 · 4 mins read
Asia Chart Pack Omicron fears stall plans to reopen borders Amid all the uncertainty caused by the arrival of Omicron, one thing we can say with some conviction is that the new variant is further bad news for the region’s beleaguered tourism industry. Up until... 29th November 2021 · 15 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Recent rate hikes not the start of a trend Attention over the past week has been on the region’s more hawkish central banks, following rate hikes in Korea and Pakistan. Both countries, along with Sri Lanka (which unexpectedly left rates... 26th November 2021 · 6 mins read
Emerging Markets Economics Focus Why is inflation different in Asia? Inflation hasn’t emerged as a concern across Emerging Asia in the same way it has in the rest of the emerging world, in part because food price inflation in Asia is much lower, but also because the... 22nd November 2021 · 10 mins read
Asia Economics Update Export orders dip, but shortages will persist Taiwan export orders dropped back in October, but the big picture is that they are down only slightly over the past few months and remain at an elevated level. Looking ahead, we expect demand to... 22nd November 2021 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Vaccine progress, external turnaround in Indonesia After a slow start, countries across South East Asia are now making encouraging progress with vaccine rollouts. The rise in coverage should reduce the need for further lockdowns and set the stage for... 19th November 2021 · 9 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly South East Asia disruption eases, Sri Lanka in peril Recent data from Malaysia and Vietnam suggest that virus-related disruption is continuing to ease. This should help alleviate some of the supply constraints currently holding back growth elsewhere in... 12th November 2021 · 8 mins read
Asia Data Response Malaysia GDP (Q3) Malaysia’s economy shrank further in Q3 but was already rebounding sharply by the end of the quarter. with vaccinations high, virus cases down and restrictions being eased, this rebound will continue... 12th November 2021 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly The end of king coal, Korea inflation worries If the ambitious targets laid down by the 2015 Paris Agreement are to be met, then global coal consumption will need to fall sharply and eventually be eliminated. This poses a huge challenge for many... 5th November 2021 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Update Malaysia: rates on hold throughout 2022 Bank Negara Malaysia (BNM) left its main policy rate unchanged at 1.75% today, and with inflation set to remain subdued, rates are likely to stay on hold at their current all-time low throughout next... 3rd November 2021 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update Will Asian exporters continue to defy gravity? Asian exports have continued to grow rapidly despite the recent disruption stemming from lockdowns in South East Asia. A huge backlog of orders and low inventory levels in advanced economies mean that... 2nd November 2021 · 3 mins read
Asia Data Response Manufacturing PMIs (Oct.) While October Manufacturing PMIs point to a strong rise in manufacturing output, industry is likely to be working through huge backlogs of orders for many months to come and resulting supply shortages... 1st November 2021 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Mixed Korea activity data, climate change The latest batch of activity data from Korea indicate that the automotive sector was hit hard by shortages last month, but that the service sector is enjoying a recovery. The provisional Q3 GDP... 29th October 2021 · 8 mins read
Asia Chart Pack South East Asia bouncing back The near-term outlook for South East Asia has improved dramatically over the past month or so. Daily cases of COVID-19 have collapsed and are now less than one-third of the level they were at in... 27th October 2021 · 15 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly GDP to rebound after gloomy Q3 The next few weeks will see the publication of a host of third quarter GDP figures from across the region. While the data are likely to paint a downbeat picture, output should rebound strongly in the... 22nd October 2021 · 6 mins read