Emerging Markets Economics Update Risks skewed towards unexpected rate cuts – for now… Today’s decision by the People’s Bank of China to lower reserve requirements underlines the current heightened risk of policy surprises in the EM world. We continue to think that any further surprise... 4th February 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Update EM manufacturing weakness concentrated in the BRICs The latest PMI data suggest that manufacturing activity across the emerging world was stable, but still sluggish, at the start of this year. However, while manufacturers in the BRIC economies are... 3rd February 2015 · 1 min read
India Economics Update RBI’s rate pause likely to prove short-lived Governor Rajan opted not to follow up on January’s unscheduled rate cut with further loosening in today’s policy review, with the repo and the reverse repo rates kept on hold at 7.75% and 6.75%... 3rd February 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Rate cut in Australia won't be the last The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) cut its cash rate for the first time since mid-2013 today, taking it down by 25 basis points to 2.25%. Given the RBA’s change of stance and the likelihood that the... 3rd February 2015 · 1 min read
India Economics Update Taking stock of the GDP revisions Revisions to India’s historic GDP data have been greeted with both cheers and bemusement. One of the more puzzling aspects is that nominal GDP in the last fiscal year was left all but unchanged by the... 2nd February 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Data Response Manufacturing PMIs (Jan.) The January PMIs for Emerging Asia showed some signs of improvement, suggesting that the region's manufacturing sectors started 2015 on a slightly better note. In the two economies where the PMIs most... 2nd February 2015 · 1 min read
India Economics Update GDP revisions raise more questions than answers At face value, today’s revisions to India’s historic GDP data suggest that the economy has been performing far better than had previously appeared. If true, this implies there is much less room for a... 30th January 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Asian equity markets make winning start to 2015 Emerging Asian equity markets have got off to a strong start to the year, while the performance of Asian currencies has been much more mixed. 30th January 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Activity Monitor BRICs remain the EM weak spot Our GDP Tracker suggests that aggregate EM GDP expanded at a modest pace of just over 4% y/y in November as the BRIC economies continued to disappoint. Meanwhile, the latest activity figures provide... 30th January 2015 · 1 min read
India Economics Update All eyes on the union budget The government’s next budget, due to beannounced on 28th February, has taken on even more importance than normal, with the ReserveBank of India (RBI) looking for fiscal consolidation and investors... 30th January 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Reasons to be optimistic about Korea’s economy in 2015 Korea stands to be one of Emerging Asia’s biggest beneficiaries from lower oil prices, and will also be boosted by a recovery in the housing market and by expansionary fiscal policy. We think most... 30th January 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Data Response Taiwan GDP (Q4) The labour market continues to tighten, as the economic recovery is picking up speed. However, the continued slowdown in inflation suggests that the Bank of Japan still has more work to do. 30th January 2015 · 1 min read
Emerging Markets Economics Update How exposed are EMs to contagion from Greece? The fact that the mounting concerns about Greece’s future within the euro-zone have had only a limited impact on financial markets across the emerging world appears to reflect the belief that problems... 29th January 2015 · 1 min read
Asia Chart Pack Interest rate cuts to be exception rather than rule Expectations that the fall in oil prices will trigger a wave of interest rate cuts across Asia are probably wide of the mark. Admittedly, Pakistan, India and Singapore have each loosened monetary... 29th January 2015 · 1 min read
India Economics Update Rupee strength supports case for policy loosening The rupee has been among the world’s best performing currencies so far this year, due to a combination of a narrowing trade deficit and strong foreign inflows into local equities. This has given the... 29th January 2015 · 1 min read
Global Economics Update More to cheer than fear from “currency wars” The latest monetary easing in Europe and Asia has revived talk of “currency wars” and fuelled concerns about the impact of dollar strength on the US economy. But much of this talk seems unduly... 29th January 2015 · 1 min read