Asia Economics Update Philippines: more rate cuts coming The central bank in the Philippines (BSP) today cut its policy rate by a larger-than-expected 50bps, to 2.25%, and with economic activity unlikely to recover fully anytime soon, we expect further... 25th June 2020 · 3 mins read
Asia Data Response Korea Trade (1st – 20th June) Korean trade data for the first 20 days of June suggest that the slump in exports is probably past the worse. But the recovery in external demand in the quarters ahead is likely to be a protracted one... 22nd June 2020 · 2 mins read
Emerging Markets Economics Chart Pack More evidence of uneven recovery While the incoming economic data continue to point to a nascent recovery in aggregate EM activity, some countries are being left behind. Recent figures from parts of Asia (China, Korea, Vietnam and... 19th June 2020 · 11 mins read
Asia Data Response Singapore Trade (May) The strength of the pharmaceutical and electronics sectors has helped Singaporean exports to outperform and is one reason why we are revising up our GDP growth forecast for 2020 from -8.0%, to -6.0%. 17th June 2020 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly How quickly will tourism recover? Tourism across the region has been decimated by the pandemic and is likely to be one of the last sectors of the economy to recover. This will weigh heavily on prospects in countries like Thailand... 12th June 2020 · 6 mins read
Asia Data Response Korea Trade (1st – 10th June) Korean trade data for the first ten days of June suggest that the external environment improved slightly at the start of last month. We suspect this will mark the start of a long and slow recovery. 11th June 2020 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Update Further signs of improvement in Korea Despite the sharp rise in the unemployment rate last month, there are signs that the Korean labour market has turned a corner. This adds to evidence that the economy has now bottomed out. 10th June 2020 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Focus Which countries will rebound fastest? The high-frequency data that we track suggest that while economic activity is picking up across most of the region, the pace of recovery varies significantly by country. We expect China, Singapore... 8th June 2020 · 11 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Philippines: collapse in April, recovery to lag Labour market and industrial production data released today for the Philippines confirm that output collapsed in April. With the lockdown being eased only gradually, the recovery in the Philippines is... 5th June 2020 · 6 mins read
Asia Data Response Korea Trade (May) Korean export values sank further in May after collapsing in April, and while this is likely to mark the bottom, external demand is only likely to recover very slowly in the coming months. 1st June 2020 · 2 mins read
Asia Data Response Manufacturing PMIs (May) We suspect that PMI readings do not accurately reflect the change in industry conditions last month, but they are still indicative of the fact that output remains very depressed. 1st June 2020 · 2 mins read
Emerging Markets Economics Chart Pack Diverging prospects Timely data suggest that April may have been the trough for EM GDP, and activity at an aggregate level should recover – albeit slowly – in the coming months. But this is likely to mask a significant... 29th May 2020 · 11 mins read
Asia Chart Pack Some signs of recovery as lockdowns are eased With new infections falling sharply across the region and with lockdowns being eased, economic activity is starting to recover. However, the latest high-frequency data that we track, including routing... 28th May 2020 · 14 mins read
Asia Economics Update BoK stops short of full QE, more action still likely The Bank of Korea (BoK) cut its policy rate by 25bps to a new record low of 0.50% and gave some vague assurances that it would act to keep long term government bond yields down. With growth likely to... 28th May 2020 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update Inflation to stay low for a long time The impact of the crisis so far has been overwhelmingly disinflationary, and with demand likely to be depressed for a long time to come, inflation is set to remain very weak. A period of entrenched... 27th May 2020 · 4 mins read
Asia Economics Update Singapore: boost from pharma sector will not last A surge in pharmaceutical production has provided a significant boost to Singapore’s economy over the past couple of months, but this is likely to prove temporary and will not prevent a massive... 26th May 2020 · 3 mins read