Highlights
RenCap: Russia the next Greece
Brazil: bank runs and break-ins
Beijing property market too hot for Nobel winner
Hungama: Bollywood by mobile
Chart of the Week: woes of Malaysia’s exporters

Tag: Asian economies

Guest post: Asia’s currency war remains hypothetical

Feb 27, 2013 9:25am by beyondbrics
Share
Share this on

By Daniel Hui of JPMorgan

“It is said that enlightened governments… do not mobilise when there is no advantage, do not act when there is nothing to gain, do not fight when there is no danger.” – Sun Tzu

Markets have been captivated by the prospect and imagery of a “currency war” following Japan’s dramatic shift in monetary policy, and the recent 20 per cent depreciation of the yen. The narrative goes something like this: The sharp devaluation of the Japanese yen will be the casus belli which will provoke retaliatory devaluations by other Asian economies in self-defence.

All very colorful, dramatic and scary, to be sure. But to-date this is purely hypothetical, and likely to remain so. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Global |

Multinationals: off the pace in Asia

Jan 8, 2013 2:05pm by Gwen Robinson
Share
Share this on

Surprise, surprise. When it comes to words and actions of big companies, yet again we find that rhetoric belies reality – this time courtesy of The Economist Corporate Network.

The Economist group’s emerging markets advisory arm compiles an annual survey of leading corporate executives on their attitudes and investment patterns in Asia. In its report, Investing in an Accelerating Asia?, the group found that investment in Asia by global multinational corporations is lagging the expectations, forecasts and optimism voiced by their top executives. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Asia |

Asia and the US fiscal cliff: stuff of nightmares?

Dec 18, 2012 9:30am by Andrew Bowman
Share
Share this on

As budget negotiations in Congress drag on towards the end of year deadline, questions are being asked about the global ripple of the US falling off the so-called fiscal cliff.

Should Asia investors be losing sleep over it? Continue reading »

Tags: , , , , Posted in Asia |

UN / Escap: the threats – and upsides – to Asia-Pacific growth in 2013

Dec 15, 2012 5:00am by Gwen Robinson
Share
Share this on

A trader gestures in front of the electronic display at the Philippine Stock Exchange (PSE) in Manila on June 18, 2012.It is hardly surprising to see mixed economic views of a country or region. But these days, Asia has become a forecasters’ chop-suey of tasty and unpalatable tidbits.

While it boasts growing internal markets, strong capital inflows and still-impressive annual growth among some economies, the region remains vulnerable to global slowdowns, the whims of western central banks, natural disasters and inadequate regional co-operation. Among the growing stream of mixed messages on the region’s trajectory came the United Nations Economic and Social commission for Asia and the Pacific, launched on Friday in Bangkok. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , , Posted in Asia |

Booming southeast Asia facing new headwinds: ADB

Dec 6, 2012 8:07am by Jeremy Grant
Share
Share this on

Robust domestic demand, the rise of the middle class and healthy corporate balance sheets are reasons why southeast Asia is being talked up as the last man standing in an otherwise anaemic global economy.

But Thiam Hee Ng, a senior economist at the Asian Development Bank, has sounded a rare note of caution on the region. He points out four factors that should give the boosters pause. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , , , Posted in Asia, Global |

[video] DBS: Asia is resilient, but uneven

Nov 5, 2012 12:25pm by beyondbrics
Share
Share this on

Piyush Gupta, chief executive of DBS, talks to the FT’s Jeremy Grant about Chinese non-performing loans, India’s urgent need for political reform and the booming economies of southeast Asia.

Tags: , , , Posted in Asia |

SE Asia: business confidence droops

Oct 11, 2012 9:35am by Jeremy Grant
Share
Share this on

The conventional wisdom for the past six months has been that south-east Asia is pretty much the last man standing in the global economy.

Thailand, Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Singapore have delivered decent growth, thanks to strong domestic demand and, even as the eurozone crisis and China’s deceleration have buffeted them.

But the region may be starting to slow. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , , , Posted in Asia, China, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand, Vietnam |

Guest post: muscling into Myanmar’s surprisingly crowded business world

Jul 20, 2012 3:04am by beyondbrics
Share
Share this on

By Udayan Chattopadhyay of Ergo

The US’s decision to suspend some key sanctions against Myanmar is the latest and perhaps most prominent endorsement received by that country’s new quasi-civilian regime.

Global interest has surged, due to Myanmar’s vast untapped natural resources, underexploited agricultural sector and huge underemployed labor force. While there is justifiable excitement – the IMF expects 6 per cent economic growth this year – those new to Myanmar will find that it is hardly virgin territory. Continue reading »

Tags: , , , , , Posted in Myanmar |

Asia’s fiscal firepower to the rescue

Jun 15, 2012 8:40am by Paul J Davies
Share
Share this on

The deep summer lull of the markets has come early this year as uncertainty reigns and the global economy continues its shuddering slowdown. Bank of England governor Mervyn King said on Thursday night that economic conditions as seen from the UK had further deteriorated markedly in just the past four weeks.

But while he and others – such as BlackRock’s Peter Fisher – debate the usefulness of further monetary easing in the west to chivvy things along, Frederic Neumann at HSBC reckons that in emerging Asia, it is fiscal firepower that provides the best defence – unless that is you are in India or perhaps Malaysia. Continue reading »

Tags: , , Posted in Asia, China, Global, India, Malaysia, Philippines, Thailand |

UN: Asia at risk from eurozone, oil shock, trade wars, capital inflows…

May 10, 2012 9:54am by Gwen Robinson
Share
Share this on

Slowing growth, falling exports, the impact on Asia of the eurozone debt crisis and a potential surge in oil prices: there were some stark warnings issued on Thursday by the United Nations’ Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific. Continue reading »

Tags: , Posted in Asia, Global |

BB: time to register

Dear beyondbrics readers,

After more than three years of fully open access, we are taking the step of asking our readers to register on FT.com to read our articles. Beyondbrics will still be free but we'd like to know a bit more about you, our readers. Other FT blogs (including Alphaville) already do the same thing. Registration is active on beyondbrics from May 6.

Many of you are already registered on FT.com, or are subscribers - in which case, if you are logged in to the site you will not notice any difference. Just carry on as before.

For those of you not yet registered, it's a simple process which only takes a few moments.

Reading beyondbrics articles will NOT deduct from your free monthly quota of stories on FT.com.

Many thanks

Stefan Wagstyl, emerging markets editor

Global equities macromap

beyondbrics

The emerging markets hub

About this blog Headlines email Blog guide
News and comment from more than 40 emerging economies, headed by Brazil, Russia, India and China.



'Like' our beyondbrics Facebook page, where we showcase a top story of the day
Sign up for our news headlines and markets snaphot service. We have two emails per day - London and New York headlines (sent at approx 6am and 12pm GMT).

Pretty much everything you need to know about beyondbrics is in our About this site page. But briefly:

To comment, please register for free with FT.com and read our policy on submitting comments.

There is an overall beyondbrics RSS feed, as well as feeds for all our countries, tags and authors. Learn more in our full RSS guide.

All posts are published in UK time.

Get in touch with us - your comments, advice and even complaints. Find out how to contact the team.

See the full list of FT blogs.

BB shortcuts

Regulars Series Archive
Chart of the week
Behind the numbers

Corporate watch
A regular in-depth look at a significant emerging market-based company

The Weekender
Catch up with the week in emerging markets
Hello 2013
Guest posts on the outlook for the year ahead

2012 review
Quiz, charts, most read and more

BB review
An occasional series reviewing books and arts from around the beyondbrics world

Brics at 10
A decade of growth
12 for 2012
Guest writer predictions
2011 review
The year in numbers
The Diaspora Digest
EM diasporas, seen through their community media (Oct-Nov 2011)
Sick brics (Sep 2011)
Brics and mortar (Aug 2011)
Beyondbrics on the beach (Jul-Aug 2011)
China bubble? (June 2011)
Post-election Nigeria (June 2011)
Hey bric spender (Aug 2010)

Emerging markets data

Archive

« AprMay 2013
M T W T F S S
 12345
6789101112
13141516171819
20212223242526
2728293031