Benign inflation to keep Asian central banks focused on growth risks

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Concerns that food and oil prices may soon reverse their downtrend, potentially derailing a nascent monetary easing cycle in Asia, are likely overdone. Central banks, in our view, are likely

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10 Dec 2015

Asia: Sound fundamentals suggest no repeat 1997–1998 crisis

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While Asian currencies have been quite unstable in recent months, comparisons with the Asian Financial Crisis are over the top, in our view. External positions of the region’s economies are in a

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16 Oct 2015

Asian frontier economies face refinancing risks

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Asian frontier-market economies need to refinance a significant amount of external liabilities over the coming year. Their sovereign fundamentals are not too concerning, but the timing isn’t ideal, given the

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15 Sep 2015

Malaysia: capital controls to support ringgit would be disruptive

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China’s surprise currency devaluation, which triggered a sell-off in many Asian currencies, has increased Malaysia’s headache as the country had already been struggling to halt the ringgit’s decline. Reintroducing capital

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27 Aug 2015

Asia: Too early to worry about El Niño as downside risks to growth persist

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After a period of lower oil prices and disinflation concerns, Asian markets are shifting their focus to the risk of an El Niño–driven food price inflation. But an absence of

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21 Jul 2015

Asia: are financial imbalances still a constraint for monetary easing?

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While some Asian central banks have embarked on a rate cut cycle, thanks to lower inflation resulting from falling oil prices, others remain cautious. The main concern among those hesitant

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05 Mar 2015

European investors may hold key to Asian bond market performance

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The European Central Bank’s aggressive monetary easing may have a significant impact on Asian bond markets, given the large presence of European investors in the region. In particular, markets in

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09 Feb 2015