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Asia Monitor provides subscribers with systematic political risk assessment, economic forecasts and business analysis for each country across the region. The service includes online access to the very latest analysis, a 24-month searchable archive of articles and data, and PDF access to the monthly Monitor reports.
Published by Business Monitor International, the emerging market specialists, Asia Monitor is broken down into four regional services: China & North East Asia, South Asia, South East Asia Vol 1 and South East Asia Vol 2.
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Economy / South Korea
Tensions on the Korean peninsula have risen in the past month as Pyongyang tested short-range missiles and expelled South Koreans from the inter-Korean business zone in Kaesong. We believe the moves are yet another instance of North Korean brinkmanship in order to exert vital food and fuel aid without having to make material progress on its denuclearisation pledges. We see North-South...
2008-04-11Economy
Vice president-elect Vincent Siew travelled to the Chinese island of Hainan on April 11 to attend a business forum, in what will be an initial gauge for the prospects of a rapprochement...
2008-04-11Economy / South Korea
BMI View GDP growth in 2007 came in at 4.9%, slightly below our 5.0% forecast. We maintain our 5.1% forecast for 2008, but acknowledge considerable downside risks as South Korean...
2008-04-11Economy / Sri Lanka
BMI View: Despite the economy's resilience in 2007, we envisage a deceleration of real GDP growth to 6.0% in 2008, because of the escalating civil war, high inflation, and the slowdown in the US and Eurozone - Sri Lanka's biggest export destinations. The inflation outlook is particularly worrisome, with the new CCPI (N) index rising by 23.8% y-o-y in March. We envisage inflation...
2008-04-14Economy / Bangladesh
BMI View: Our growth forecast of 6.00% in FY07/08 (July-June) is subject to downside risks, owing to high inflation (which hit a 17-year high of 11.6% in December, before easing to...
2008-04-14Economy / India
BMI View: For faster expansion, the economy needs a much more benign monetary policy environment than it currently has, and in the end this boils down to resolving the core problem...
2008-04-11Economy / Thailand
BMI View: Thailand's economy expanded by a faster-than-expected 4.8% in 2007, due in large part to the country's resilient export sector. Thai merchandise exports rose a solid 18.1% in 2007, but we expect that with the ongoing downturn in the US economy, combined with a strong baht, it will not be able to remain supportive of growth over the coming year. However, a concomitant...
2008-04-14Economy / Vietnam
BMI View: We revised down our real GDP growth forecast for 2008 from 8.2% to 7.0% in January on anticipation of weaker exports to the US and that continued monetary tightening...
2008-04-11Economy / Thailand
BMI View: The Election Commission (EC)'s April 11 ruling that the Chart Thai and Matchima parties are guilty of electoral fraud could lead to their eventual disbandment, thus weakening...
2008-04-11Economy / Philippines
Economic activity unexpectedly accelerated in Q407 from the previous quarter, as higher levels of government spending and lower interest rates boosted domestic demand. Fourth quarter GDP growth surprised on the upside at 7.4% y-o-y, increasing from the previous quarter's 6.6% expansion, taking the full-year figure for 2007 to 7.3% - a 31-year high. This robust growth momentum...
2008-04-11Economy / Indonesia
A parliamentary commission has approved the appointment of Chief Economic Minister Boediono as the new governor of the central bank, ending fears that a monetary policy void would...
2008-04-11Economy / Indonesia
Indonesia's economy expanded by 6.32% in 2007, marginally higher than our own 6.20% GDP growth forecast and it has, in our view, reached its medium-term peak. The country managed...
2008-04-11
