Asia Data Response Korea Trade (1st – 20th Apr.) Korean trade data for the first 20 days of April suggest that slumping external demand is now weighing heavily on Korean exports. 21st April 2020 · 2 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 Update Will a drop in remittances cause further pain? The scale of job losses and falls in incomes caused by coronavirus containment measures across the world – but particularly in the US and the Gulf – is likely to weigh heavily on remittance inflows... 16th April 2020 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update Majority will boost Moon’s ability to enact reforms Adept handling of the current crisis has helped President Moon’s party to emerge from today’s National Assembly election with a majority, which should help breathe new life into his reform agenda... 15th April 2020 · 4 mins read
Asia Economics Update Korea: QE won’t negate need for more fiscal stimulus The Bank of Korea’ (BoK) left rates on hold at 0.75% today and announced plans to purchase government bonds. There is scope for quantitative easing to have an impact, but there are limits to how... 9th April 2020 · 3 mins read
Asia Data Response Korea Trade (Mar.) Korean trade figures held up surprising well in March but given collapsing global demand this is unlikely to continue. We expect a sharp contraction in export values in the next few months. 1st April 2020 · 2 mins read
Asia Data Response Manufacturing PMIs (Mar.) The manufacturing PMIs for Asia suggest that industry has been hit hard by the coronavirus, and we suspect the readings will deteriorate much further in the next couple of months. 1st April 2020 · 2 mins read
Asia Data Response Korea Trade (1st – 20th Mar.) There are signs that trade has recovered somewhat from the shock of Chinese factory shutdowns, with both exports and imports bouncing back over the first 20 days of March. But with the world economy... 23rd March 2020 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Update Bank of Korea’s next step likely to be QE The Bank of Korea today finally responded to the coronavirus outbreak by cutting the policy rate by 50bp and introducing a number of other measures to ease financing constraints. Further measures... 16th March 2020 · 3 mins read
Asia Data Response Korea Trade (1st – 10th Mar.) Korean trade data for the first 10 days of March suggest that the disruption from factory closures in China to regional industry eased recently, although both imports and exports remain depressed. 11th March 2020 · 2 mins read
Asia Economics Focus New forecasts for Emerging Asia as coronavirus spreads There is a huge amount of uncertainty over how things will play out over the coming weeks as the coronavirus crisis continues to unfold, and any forecasts should be taken with more than the usual... 10th March 2020 · 10 mins read
Asia Economics Update What do falling oil prices mean for Emerging Asia? Most countries in Emerging Asia are net importers of oil, so would usually stand to gain from a big drop in prices. But with the coronavirus continuing to spread and people increasingly avoiding... 9th March 2020 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update Korea could be next to disrupt global supply chains Korea’s position as a key supplier of high-tech intermediate goods means it plays an important role in regional supply chains. Extended factory closures due to the spread of the coronavirus would... 9th March 2020 · 3 mins read
Asia Economics Update Coronavirus: the long-term impact on supply chains The coronavirus itself may not trigger a wholesale reorganisation of supply chains, but it strengthens the argument for companies to reduce associated risks. One response might be to introduce more... 2nd March 2020 · 3 mins read
Asia Data Response Manufacturing PMIs (Feb.) PMI readings for Asia are likely to have understated the disruption to industry from factory shutdowns in China, and the recent rise in coronavirus cases outside of China means that worse may be yet... 2nd March 2020 · 2 mins read
Asia Data Response Korea Trade (Feb.) Growth in Korean trade in February masks underlying weakness. Trade with China shrank sharply due to disruption from the coronavirus, and there were few signs of strength elsewhere. 2nd March 2020 · 2 mins read