Asia Economics Update Falling inflation not enough to trigger Thai rate cut The Bank of Thailand (BoT) left interest rates unchanged at 2.0% today despite the recent drop in inflation. While dissent within the monetary policy committee has raised the odds of a rate cut, we... 28th January 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Jokowi’s first 100 days: a promising start Indonesia’s new president, Joko Widodo (known as Jokowi) has made an encouraging start to hispresidency. But tougher challenges lie ahead, while a corruption scandal is raising questions about... 28th January 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Singapore moves early to counter deflation concerns In an unscheduled decision, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) today loosened monetary policy by reducing the slope of its target band for the nominal effective exchange rate (NEER). The change... 28th January 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Pakistan's rate cut likely to be the last for some time The State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) cut its policy rate by 100bp to 8.5%, the lowest since 2005, over the weekend. Although inflation and money supply growth have both slowed sharply in recent months, we... 26th January 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update New Zealand rate hikes looking more and more distant The recent drop in oil prices is not the only reason to think that consumer price inflation will remain low in New Zealand over the next couple of years. Domestic price pressures are also fading. We... 21st January 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Malaysia’s new fiscal and growth targets are achievable Most economies in Emerging Asia will benefit from falling oil prices. The big exception is Malaysia, where the government today revised its 2015 forecasts for the budget deficit, GDP growth and the... 20th January 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Korea's policy rate hold to continue The Bank of Korea (BoK) today left its policy rate on hold at 2.0%, and lowered its 2015 GDP growth and inflation forecasts. Although the forecast downgrades may fuel speculation about rate cuts, we... 15th January 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Change in Sri Lankan leadership brings uncertainty Opposition candidate Maithripala Sirisena has emerged victorious in Sri Lanka’s presidential election. Markets have responded favourably, perhaps not so much to the result itself as to encouraging... 9th January 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update GST will add to headwinds, but won't derail Malaysia's economy The introduction of a Goods and Services Tax (GST) in April marks an important step towards strengthening Malaysia's public finances over the medium term. And while it will put upward pressure on... 7th January 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Rough end to the year for Asian markets Emerging Asia’s financial markets have not escaped the latest turmoil unscathed, but they have fared better than other EM regions. 18th December 2014 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Thailand's tourism recovery underway, but headwinds persist Thailand's tourism sector, which was a key growth driver before the most recent political crisis, finally looks to be on the mend, and should add much-needed support to the economy going into 2015... 18th December 2014 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Thai rates to stay low to support growth The Bank of Thailand (BoT) left interest rates unchanged at 2.0% today against the backdrop of gradual improvement in the economy. With price pressures benign, we think the BoT will look to keep... 17th December 2014 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Korean interest rates to remain on hold until late 2015 Rising levels of household debt suggest further rate cuts by the Bank of Korea, which today left interest rates on hold at 2.0%, are unlikely. In fact, with GDP growth set to accelerate in the coming... 11th December 2014 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update New Zealand set for prolonged rate pause The Reserve Bank of New Zealand (RBNZ) kept its policy rate at 3.5% today and suggested rates will be left on hold for some time. We doubt the central bank will raise rates again before Q3 of next... 11th December 2014 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Australia's first rate hike still a long way off The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) provided no surprises in its monetary policy decision today, keeping its policy rate at 2.5% and once again signalling that it has no intention of changing its... 2nd December 2014 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Limited impact from Chinese rate cut Financial markets in Emerging Asia have on the whole had a fairly quiet month despite the recent Chinese rate cut and the expansion of the Bank of Japan’s programme of quantitative easing. 28th November 2014 · 1 min read
