Blogs

Singapore has received some much-needed good economic news of late, with economic growth and exports surprising to the upside. However, the external environment could grow more challenging if protectionism and populism do take root in key markets.

Indonesia has been and remains a good story among large emerging economies. However, the news flow has fallen a tad short of expectations of late. Indonesia’s economy grew by about 5% in 2016, rising from 4.8% in 2015 but below the 6%-type rates experienced in 2010-2012 which had raised hopes that Indonesia could enjoy an acceleration in …

President Donald Trump came to power vowing to shake things up. It is clear from his inaugural address, the composition of his cabinet and his comments in press interviews that he meant what he said. There will be seismic changes in American policies on trade, security alliances, energy and climate policies – and many of these will cause ructions in Asia.

Two elements have been missing in the recovery of the US economy from the 2008 crisis – strong wage growth and renewed capital spending by businesses. Of these two, there are encouraging signs that wage growth is finally gaining some traction: the job market is clearly tightening and wages are firming in response.