Asia

China's near-term challenges and long-term uncertainties are plentiful, but the widespread pessimism towards the Chinese economy and markets feels excessive. We think the country's in a necessary transition rather than in any long-term decline. Understanding the challenges and timescale is key for investors China's economy has reached an important crossroadsChina's economy has reached an important crossroads after undergoing one of the most impressive growth miracles of modern history. In rapidly moving financial markets, participants are understandably focused on short-term trends and developments. But it's crucial to sometimes take a step back and look at a longer time horizon when it comes to formulating a big-picture strategy, not least in terms of asset allocation. The short-te...

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's coalition government has its work cut out as economic turmoil forces it to tackle deep-rooted structural problems. Pakistan has long been in a state of grave economic turmoil. Political instability, corruption, mismanagement, the COVID-19 pandemic, a global energy crisis and climate change-induced natural disasters have all taken a heavy toll on the economy. Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif's newly-formed government is currently seeking another bailout from the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to tackle the country's acute balance-of-payments crisis. "We couldn't survive without yet another IMF program," Sharif told a meeting in the Pakistani capital, Islamabad, last week that was broadcast live. His comments came a day after the IMF agreed a p...

The sector has made a roaring recovery since the doldrums of the Asian Financial Crisis of the late 1990s. In the late 1990s, during the Asian Financial Crisis, the Indonesian banking sector essentially collapsed. The crash of the rupiah pulled back the curtain and revealed that the balance sheets of many banks were stuffed with bad loans. Many of them went under, or had to be rescued and recapitalized by the government. Four such failing state-owned banks were merged into a new entity in 1998, which was re-named Bank Mandiri. Today, Bank Mandiri is the largest bank in Indonesia with $138 billion in assets and net income in 2023 of around $3.9 billion. Indonesia’s banking sector is dominated by state-owned banks and has rebounded pretty well from the doldrums of the Asian Financial ...

The Indian job market is surging ahead, leaving its global counterparts in the dust. According to a recent ManpowerGroup Employment Outlook Survey, 36 per cent of Indian employers plan to add new staff in the upcoming April-June quarter. This translates to the highest Net Employment Outlook (NEO) – a key indicator of hiring intentions – among 42 surveyed countries, surpassing major economies like the United States and China. The survey reveals a surge in hiring intentions across various sectors. Healthcare and Life Sciences are at the forefront, with 44 per cent of companies planning to expand their workforce. This aligns perfectly with India's growing focus on healthcare infrastructure and advancements in medical research. The demand for skilled professionals in Communication Services...

This month, India signed a rare free trade agreement with four countries in Europe that make up the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Coming after 16 painful years of negotiations, the deal will see India lift most import tariffs for industrial products from Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. In return, the EFTA countries will invest $100 billion in India over the next 15 years. The announcement comes on the back of flagging foreign direct investment (FDI) into India in recent years. Between April and September of last year, India pulled in just a little over $10 billion in FDI — the lowest tally for the first half of a financial year since the 2008 global recession, according to data from India’s central bank, the Reserve Bank of India (RBI). That comes on the back ...

Residential Real Estate demand has been picking up, which is evident in the rising count of new launches and sales of housing units. The office market recorded a weighted average lease term of 62 months in the last 14 months until February – higher than previous peaks of 59 months in 2018 and 2022. The rising tenure of lease transactions is indicative of the rising demand for India’s commercial real estate. Enforcement of regulatory initiatives like RERA (Real Estate (Regulation & Development) Act, 2016), rising per capita incomes, improving housing affordability bode well for the overall realty sector. Earlier, the structure of the real estate market in India was lopsided, with consumers having limited bargaining power, whereas large builders and developers had the upper hand. The...

The Centre’s latest figures on growth in the country’s gross domestic product don’t add up and are “mystifying”, former Chief Economic Advisor Arvind Subramanian said on Friday. The government said on February 29 that the Indian economy grew by 8.4% during the third quarter of 2023-’24, or between October 1 and December 31. This was the strongest growth registered by the country since the second quarter of 2022. The government’s National Statistical Office, in its second advance estimate, also pegged the country's growth at 7.6% for the current financial year. However, Subramanian, at the India Today Conclave 2024, said that the implied inflation in these numbers is 1% to 1.5%, while the actual inflation is between 3% and 5%. “The economy is growing at 7.5% even though private...

NEW DELHI -- India's brisk economy has created a tail wind for Prime Minister Narendra Modi's reelection campaign, although some analysts caution that the reality might not be quite as rosy as the headline numbers suggest. The South Asian country's gross domestic product for the October to December quarter surprised most economists, growing by 8.4%. Most forecasters had predicted the economy would struggle to clear 7% for the quarter. Although India only reports figures for fiscal years, the reading resulted in a robust growth rate of about 7.7% for the calendar year. The GDP jump is part of a string of glowing reports on the Indian economy. "We expect India to be the fastest-growing economy among major G20 countries, with its real GDP growth to accelerate to around 8% in the fiscal...

Amid the economic crisis in Pakistan, President Asif Ali Zardari announced on Tuesday his decision to forgo his salary while in office, reported The Express Tribune. “In view of the prevailing economic challenges, President Zardari has decided that he will not draw his presidential salary. He took this decision to encourage prudent financial management in the country,” said a statement released by the President’s Secretariat. He has taken over as the head of the state for a historic second time, reported Dawn. Earlier, he served as President of Pakistan from 2008 to 2013. According to the Election Commission of Pakistan, Zardari got 411 electoral votes. He defeated his opponent and chief of the Pashtoonkhwa Milli Awami Party (PkMAP), Mehmood Khan Achakzai, who could only get 181 ...