Asia Economics Weekly Lifeline for Bank Indonesia, more stimulus on the way With the rupiah recovering strongly over the past week, we think Bank Indonesia will lower interest rates at its meeting on Tuesday. Meanwhile, more countries have unveiled fiscal stimulus and support... 9th April 2020 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Singapore shutdown, new forecasts, Korea elections Singapore today become the latest country in Asia to announce strict new social distancing rules to slow the spread of the coronavirus. We estimate that the economy will be running at around 30% below... 3rd April 2020 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Vietnam Q1 slowdown, Malaysia on “war footing” First quarter GDP figures for Singapore and Vietnam confirm that a sharp downturn is now underway. The figures for the second quarter are likely to be even worse. Meanwhile, Malaysia today declared... 27th March 2020 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Currencies under pressure, virus spreads in S E Asia Asian currencies have dropped back sharply in recent days, and with no end in sight to the crisis, further big falls are likely. For most countries, weaker currencies are not much to worry about. The... 20th March 2020 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Good news and bad news Despite the turmoil in regional financial markets over the past week, there has been some good news to report from Asia. New cases of the coronavirus in China have continued to fall sharply. There are... 13th March 2020 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Bank of Korea inaction, rupiah under pressure There has been some better news from Korea over the last few days, with the country reporting a drop in the number of new infections. However, with people avoiding public spaces such as shops and... 6th March 2020 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Malaysia and Korea line up fiscal responses The spread of the new coronavirus beyond China is drawing increasingly forceful policy responses, with fiscal policy taking the lead. Malaysia and Korea both announced fiscal packages in the past 24... 28th February 2020 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly The fiscal response, political worries in Thailand The policy response to the coronavirus outbreak has so far been led by the region’s central banks, but governments are also now stepping up to the plate. Earlier this week, Singapore unveiled a budget... 21st February 2020 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Singapore virus response, Cambodia on the ropes The emphasis of Singapore’s budget on Tuesday is likely to be on trying to minimise the hit to incomes and ensuring that otherwise healthy companies can make it through the crisis. Meanwhile, we have... 14th February 2020 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly New GDP growth forecasts, further rate cuts likely There is clearly a great deal of uncertainty over how long the crisis will last, but we think growth in Emerging Asia (excluding China and India) will slow by around 2.5%-points in the first quarter... 7th February 2020 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Vietnam inflation rises, Thai baht falls Inflation in Vietnam reached its highest rate since 2013 in January, but we doubt the central bank will respond by raising interest rates. Meanwhile, the Thai baht has dropped 4.5% against the US... 31st January 2020 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Coronavirus to hit tourism With the number of new cases of the coronavirus continuing to increase, concern is rising across Asia over the potential economic impact. If the virus does continue to spread, the worst affected... 24th January 2020 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Rupiah strength, palm oil worries Bank Indonesia is likely to leave interest rates unchanged at its meeting on Thursday, but the strong recent performance of the rupiah means further cuts are likely over the coming months. Meanwhile... 17th January 2020 · 7 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Taiwan election, Thailand’s currency dilemma Given her huge lead in the opinion polls, it will come as a major surprise if Tsai Ing-wen is not re-elected for a second and final term as Taiwan’s president on Saturday. However, whether Tsai can... 10th January 2020 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Oil price spike, strong growth to continue in Vietnam Oil prices have jumped following the killing of Qassem Soleimani, one of Iran’s most powerful generals, but they would need to rise much further before higher prices started to have a major impact on... 3rd January 2020 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly BoK to cut again, Sri Lanka on slow road to recovery Minutes from the Bank of Korea’s (BoK) November rate meeting reveal that while only one of the seven members of its Monetary Policy Board voted for a cut, other members also struck a dovish tone. We... 20th December 2019 · 9 mins read
