Asia Economics Update Australia's monetary policy tightening is not over The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held its cash rate at 4.75% today, as was universally expected. Low inflation and the uncertainty created by the floods disaster are likely to keep the RBA on the... 1st February 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia's Reserve Bank still likely to hike by year-end The government in Australia will introduce a temporary levy on household incomes to help pay for the damage caused by recent floods. The floods disaster has not materially changed the economic outlook... 27th January 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update How will the floods in Australia affect the economy? The flooding in Queensland continues to devastate communities and businesses but it is still most likely that the impact on Australia’s economy as a whole will be relatively small and temporary... 11th January 2011 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia's policy tightening is not over, but will be slow The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held its cash rate at 4.75% today, as expected. Its commentary was unusually dovish. Nevertheless, above-trend GDP growth still looks likely in 2011-12, which means... 7th December 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Australia's policy tightening to pause, but not stop The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) meets on Tuesday and is likely to keep its cash rate unchanged at 4.75%. This is because recent data have been soft while mortgage rates have generally increased by... 6th December 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia's GDP slowdown will be short-lived Australia’s economy in Q3 expanded for the seventh consecutive quarter, albeit at a slow pace. The outlook is upbeat. GDP growth should accelerate soon to an above-trend pace, with investment leading... 1st December 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia's fiscal consolidation remains on track The latest budget projections published today confirm that Australia’s fiscal position is exceptionally strong when compared to other high-income economies. The overall budget will move back into... 9th November 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia's monetary tightening has a long way to go The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) unexpectedly hiked its cash rate by 25bp to 4.75% today. While the exact timing was a surprise, the resumption of monetary tightening was only a matter of when, not... 2nd November 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia's cash rate still likely to move up soon Yesterday’s Q3 consumer price data from Australia were softer than the Reserve Bank (RBA) and consensus had expected. Inflation pressures are still likely to rise over the long run but the RBA would... 28th October 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update What lies ahead for the Aussie dollar? The Australian dollar is close to hitting parity against the US dollar, a level last reached in mid-1982. Interest rate differentials will probably remain the main driver of where the exchange rate... 12th October 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia's monetary policy tightening to resume soon The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) unexpectedly held its cash rate at 4.5% today. Nonetheless, the RBA did state that rate hikes are likely if the economy develops in line with its main-case... 5th October 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Asia's industrial slowdown to level out soon Manufacturing PMIs for emerging Asia and Australia declined further in September. Factory output across the region will continue to adjust as the global upswing stays on a weak track. Nevertheless... 1st October 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Australia's cash rate set to rise in October Commentary from the Reserve Bank (RBA) over recent days makes it clear that Australia’s cash rate will move up again soon. Accordingly, we have brought forward our forecast and now expect a 25bp hike... 27th September 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Further rate hikes still look close in Australia The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) held its cash rate at 4.5% today, as expected. Nevertheless, the local economic upswing remains strong, at a time when there is little spare capacity. Accordingly... 7th September 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Asia's manufacturing boom is easing to a pace that can last The manufacturing PMIs declined in August. The global upswing is shifting to a slower pace but we expect that the industrial sector expansion in Asia will stabilise at trend rather than collapse. 3rd September 2010 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia's economy will continue to outperform Australia’s GDP growth accelerated in Q2 and was led by exports and household spending. The economic outlook remains bright, with the mining boom set to sustain above-trend growth in 2010-11. The... 1st September 2010 · 1 min read
