Asia Economics Weekly Five key calls for Emerging Asia The highlight of the coming week is a scheduled monetary policy meeting in Indonesia. Despite the poor growth outlook, we think interest rates will be left on hold against a backdrop of rising... 13th April 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Economic Outlook Stronger exports to boost growth in 2017 Buoyant global demand should help to support growth across most of Emerging Asia over the coming quarters, but mounting domestic headwinds mean a strong rebound is not on the cards. Although the... 11th April 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Data Response Manufacturing PMIs (Mar.) Most of Emerging Asia’s PMIs ticked up in March. But the woes of the manufacturing sector in Korea, one of the economies where the PMIs most closely track the hard data, are not over. 3rd April 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Chart Pack South Korea elections: key names to watch Political campaigning in South Korea ahead of presidential elections due on 9th May is now well underway. Given the extent of public anger against ousted former president Park Geun-hye and her ruling... 21st March 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Bank Indonesia holds again, rates unlikely to change this year Bank Indonesia (BI) left interest rates on hold today and struck a cautious tone in its statement which followed the meeting. Looking ahead, we think that worries about inflation and concerns about... 16th March 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Asia will not follow the Fed’s lead For most economies in Emerging Asia it will be local factors, not the actions of the US Federal Reserve, which will determine the next moves by the region’s central banks. 16th March 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Spike in inflation nothing to worry about The sharp rise in headline inflation across Emerging Asia is unlikely to be the trigger for the region’s central banks to start tightening monetary policy. The increase is almost entirely due to an... 3rd March 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Data Response Manufacturing PMIs (Feb.) The PMIs for Emerging Asia in February were mostly encouraging, suggesting that manufacturing conditions in the region are slowly gaining a firmer footing. 1st March 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Chart Pack A bad month for Indonesia A number of developments over the past month have cast a shadow over Indonesia’s prospects. The first was the publication of GDP figures for the final quarter of last year which showed a slowdown in... 23rd February 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Bank Indonesia holds again, rates unlikely to change this year Bank Indonesia kept its policy rate on hold at 4.75% today, and we think that worries about inflation will prevent the central bank from loosening policy any further over the rest of the year too. 16th February 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Data Response Indonesia GDP (Q4) Indonesia recorded another quarter of disappointing growth in the final quarter of last year. With commodity prices likely to remain depressed and policymakers running out of scope to stimulate the... 6th February 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Focus Can manufacturing revive growth in Indonesia? A strong manufacturing sector would go some way to reviving the economic fortunes of Indonesia. However, the challenges are formidable, and unless more progress is made on liberalising the labour... 2nd February 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Weekly Thailand’s current account surplus is a sign of weakness Large current account surpluses are sometimes a sign of economic strength. In the case of Thailand, however, where the surplus is over 10% of GDP, it is a symptom of a deeply depressed economy. 27th January 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Economics Update Bank Indonesia to keep interest rates unchanged this year Bank Indonesia (BI) left its policy rate on hold at 4.75% today, and with inflation set to rise later in the year and the currency likely to come under renewed downward pressure as the Fed continues... 19th January 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Chart Pack Vietnam complacent over credit risks Policymakers in Vietnam are becoming increasingly complacent of the risks posed by the rapid build-up in debt, as reflected by the government’s recent announcement that it was targeting credit growth... 17th January 2017 · 1 min read
Asia Economic Outlook Steady growth ahead Most countries in Emerging Asia should continue to grow at a decent pace over the next couple of years as loose monetary policy helps support demand. The key exception is China, where growth looks set... 13th January 2017 · 1 min read