Asia Economics Weekly Bumps in Korea’s recovery, how to interpret the PMIs A couple of new outbreaks of coronavirus in Korea’s capital city, Seoul, has led to renewed fears of a second wave of infections. The recent spike appears to have put the recovery on hold and has led... 29th May 2020 · 5 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly BoK to launch QE, labour market woes in Taiwan The Bank of Korea is likely to cut its policy rate to a record low of 0.5% and step up non-conventional support at its meeting on Thursday. Meanwhile, today’s labour market figures from Taiwan show... 22nd May 2020 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Tourism slump in Thailand, Korea’s “second wave” The first quarter GDP figures for Thailand (due on Monday) will make for grim reading. While all economies have been hit hard by coronavirus containment measures, the collapse in global tourism means... 15th May 2020 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Infections ease, but recovery proving slow Though there are notable exceptions, there are some encouraging signs that new infections of the coronavirus are falling in many places in Emerging Asia. The slowing spread of the virus should allow... 8th May 2020 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Philippines economic woes, Singapore slump Next Thursday’s Q1 GDP figures for the Philippines are likely to show that the economy grew at its slowest rate in over 10 years last quarter. But worse is still to come. Meanwhile, Singapore’s latest... 30th April 2020 · 8 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Singapore lockdown extension, deflation arrives The decision by Singapore’s government to extend and toughen its lockdown will further reduce economic output this year. We are cutting our GDP forecast again. Meanwhile, the most recent batch of... 24th April 2020 · 6 mins read
Asia Economics Weekly Elections in Korea, further easing in Pakistan With all the votes from Korea’s parliamentary election now counted, it has been confirmed that President Moon’s Democratic Party (DP) and its affiliate party won 180 of the 300 seats in the National... 17th April 2020 · 6 mins read
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
