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About a year ago, when I wrote a column entitled “Keynesean apocalypse” (3/12/22) that dwelt on the Russia-Ukraine war, which had just commenced and begun to develop as a proxy war between the United States/Nato and Russia.

For countries such as Singapore which follow the Westminster form of government, the annual budget statement is one of the most important political speeches of the year. The annual statement goes beyond just providing a dollars and cents account of how the government will raise funds and where it will spend these monies for the coming year.

Since early December, Chinese policy makers have executed a sharp U-turn in their policies in several areas. Where management of the covid pandemic is concerned, the reversal of the uncompromising covid-zero strategy was nothing short of dramatic.

Ah yes, it’s time again for the contrived “first 100 days” assessment of a new administration. In a column I had written in 2010, I had stated: “I lean towards the view that excessive importance given to the first 100 days risks the maintenance of a short-term, quick-fix mentality that ultimately becomes self-deceiving.

As this column is being penned, the US Federal Reserve Bank is preparing to announce its latest rate decision and financial markets are in a real tizzy about that. But to understand the full implications of all this for the Asian region, we need to go beyond the day-to-day volatility in markets and focus on the fundamental forces at work.