Asia Economics Update Exports to slow, even if trade war is avoided Asian exports are holding up well for now, but this strength is unlikely to last. Even if the current drift towards an all-out trade war between the US and China is halted (which we doubt), weaker... 13th September 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Most central banks unlikely to follow the Philippines Indonesia and the Philippines are likely to tighten monetary policy aggressively over the rest of this year. The Philippines may even call an emergency policy meeting in the face of soaring inflation... 12th September 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Weak labour market to drag on Korea’s economy Korea’s labour market has deteriorated significantly in recent months, and August data due tomorrow are likely to show that conditions remain weak. The government unveiled plans for a sharp rise in... 11th September 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly More rate hikes likely in the Philippines, but not Korea The central bank governor of the Philippines, Nestor Espenilla, today all but confirmed that interest rates will be raised soon, possibly in an emergency meeting before the BSP is next scheduled to... 7th September 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Assessing the economic impact of recent market falls The macro impact of the recent falls in Asian markets is likely to be relatively small for most economies. The exceptions are the Philippines and Indonesia, where weaker currencies have forced... 5th September 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Data Response Manufacturing PMIs (Aug.) The August PMIs for Emerging Asia suggest that the region’s manufacturing sectors remained lacklustre. Meanwhile, Korean export data suggest export growth in the rest of the region stayed robust last... 3rd September 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Philippines to scrap rice quotas, new tax in Malaysia The Philippines looks to be on the verge of passing legislation to allow in more rice imports. If the bill passes, it should lead to a sharp drop in inflation and would reduce the pressure for further... 31st August 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Korea: rate hike this year looking increasingly unlikely The Bank of Korea’s (BoK) decision to leave interest rates on hold at 1.50% today came as no great surprise given the recent deterioration in the labour market. Looking ahead, with headwinds to growth... 31st August 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Chart Pack Asian currencies remain resilient Asian currencies have continued to hold up pretty well over the past few weeks despite the turmoil in EM currency markets. Since the start of August, the Korean won and the Thai baht have actually... 30th August 2018 · 1 min read
Frontier Markets Wrap Frontier recovery remains on track Frontier financial markets have endured a torrid 2018, but this hasn’t been accompanied by a deterioration in the hard activity data. Admittedly, growth in the largest frontier economy, Nigeria... 29th August 2018 · 1 min read
Global Markets Update EM corporate credit spreads have a lot further to rise Despite rising since January, emerging market (EM) corporate credit spreads remain very tight by past standards and relative to those of their counterparts elsewhere in the world. We think that this... 29th August 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly BoT signals rate hike, Malaysia pushes back on BRI Stronger-than-expected Q2 GDP figures this week and the Bank of Thailand’s (BoT) increasingly hawkish rhetoric suggest a 25bp rate hike is likely at its next meeting on 19 th September. However, with... 24th August 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Further slowdown ahead Growth only slowed a touch in Emerging Asia last quarter, but weakening export demand and tighter monetary policy mean that the region’s economies are likely to cool further over the next year or so. 23rd August 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Korea’s household debt overhang a constraint on growth Household debt in Korea has surged in recent years, raising fears of a messy unwinding. But while a financial crisis is unlikely to materialise, the debt overhang will act as a constraint on growth. A... 21st August 2018 · 1 min read
Asia Data Response Thailand GDP (Q2) GDP growth in Thailand cooled slightly in Q2, after expanding at its fastest pace in five years in Q1. We expect growth to slow gradually over the coming quarters, due mainly to weaker export demand. 20th August 2018 · 1 min read
EM Markets Chart Pack Turkey’s crisis just one of many threats to EM assets The main factor weighing on EM assets recently has been worries about contagion from the crisis in Turkey. But even if these fears subside, there are plenty of other reasons to be pessimistic about... 17th August 2018 · 1 min read
