Asia Economics Update Renewed inflation worries unlikely to trigger rate hikes Headline inflation has jumped across much of Emerging Asia over the past couple of months on the back of rises in food and fuel prices. This won’t prompt central banks to resume tightening (the... 11th October 2023 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update Asian Tigers: AI boost will not offset drag from demographics The Asian Tiger economies of Korea, Singapore, Hong Kong and Taiwan are likely to be among the biggest beneficiaries of the emergence of new AI technologies. But the boost will not be enough to offset... 9th October 2023 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Update Sri Lanka: further easing ahead The central bank (CBSL) today cut interest rates by a further 100bps. With inflation low and the economy still very depressed, further easing is likely over the coming months. 5th October 2023 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Update Korea: weak activity data but inflation worries mount The latest activity data from Korea were downbeat. Although industrial production grew strongly, the manufacturing PMIs, along with the export figures and retail sales data, all point to continued... 5th October 2023 · 2 mins read
Global Economics Update The bond market sell-off and the global economy The sell-off in bond markets has taken a breather today, helped in part by softer data on the US labour market. However, the scale of the moves over the past week has invoked comparisons to previous... 4th October 2023 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Update Korea: drag from weak construction set to continue Construction spending in Korea is falling sharply as developers respond to an oversupply of new homes by cutting back on new projects. The sector’s weakness will remain a major drag on economic growth... 3rd October 2023 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Update Manufacturing PMIs, Korean trade, Indonesia CPI The PMIs for September suggest that manufacturing activity across Emerging Asia remained weak last month. Worryingly, the PMIs point to a further rise in price pressures across the region, with the... 2nd October 2023 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Update Vietnam: worst now over Figures released today show that the worst for Vietnam’s economy is now over, but that growth remains subdued by past standards. With the economy on the mend, but inflation becoming a growing concern... 29th September 2023 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Update How to think about Taiwan’s election flashpoint The weeks leading up to Taiwan’s presidential election in January could be marked by another rise in tensions with China. The most likely outcome of the vote is another DPP presidency. While Lai Ching... 20th September 2023 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Update Sri Lanka – on the mend Recent data show Sri Lanka’s economy is now rebounding strongly from last year’s political and economic crisis. We expect the recovery to continue over the coming months, helped by the sharp drop in... 15th September 2023 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update Inflation in Korea set to resume downward trend soon The jump in inflation in August was driven by temporary factors and we don’t think this marks the start of a sustained rise in inflation, especially since core inflation continued to drop back... 5th September 2023 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update Manufacturing PMIs & Korea Trade (August.) Manufacturing PMIs across most of Emerging Asia stood well inside contractionary territory in August. Weak foreign goods demand, elevated interest rates at home and bloated inventory levels suggest... 1st September 2023 · 2 mins read
Asset Allocation Update Equities in EM Asia ex-China may keep holding up well Equities in Emerging Asia outside China have largely outperformed their peers in other Emerging Markets (EMs) since the pandemic started. We think that they will hold up better during the global stock... 24th August 2023 · 4 mins read
Asia Economics Update CBSL on hold but rate cut still likely by end 2023 The central bank of Sri Lanka (CBSL) decided to keep monetary policy unchanged today, contrary to the expectations of most analysts (including ourselves), after having slashed rates by a cumulative... 24th August 2023 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update BoK set to deliver rate cuts from Q4 The decision today by the Bank of Korea to leave the policy rate unchanged (at 3.5%) for a fifth consecutive meeting came as no surprise. However, comments by the central bank governor at the press... 24th August 2023 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update Philippines: rate cuts unlikely before 2024 The central bank (BSP) in the Philippines today left interest rates unchanged for a third consecutive meeting and, although the economy weakened markedly in Q2 and inflation is nearly back to target... 17th August 2023 · 3 mins read
