According to government figures, Singapore’s economy grew 2.0% in 2015, a shortfall from 3.3% seen from 2014, according to CNBC. Retail trade and wholesale added the most growth, but failed to offset the city-state’s fall in manufacturing output. Analysts expect the economy to expand anywhere from 1.0% to 3.0% in 2016.
Christine Lagarde, the outspoken and highly popular head of the International Monetary Fund (IMF), has made a rather bold statement about how to achieve peace in a region known for its many years of turmoil. She has called upon the nations of the Middle East to improve their taxation systems and enact significant fiscal reforms as a way to create political stability and, ultimately, peace.
Lagarde outlined her philosophical pathway to peace in the second speech she has delivered this week in the Middle East.
A Federal Reserve chairman has warned that the central bank’s policies may be hurting growth as several economic indicators soured.
In an interview with the Financial Times, Dallas Federal Reserve head Robert Kaplan warned of the “downside” to a more tightening monetary policy. Additionally, he noted that the Fed’s previous optimism was possibly too early as inflation and other economic data points became increasingly sluggish in early 2016.
The regional order in East Asia is in flux. The relative decline of US power in Asia has led to new challenges. The principles, rules, norms and methods for managing the international agenda are being questioned. The willingness of the United States to maintain an active role in East Asia, alongside the behaviour of China and key groupings such as ASEAN will define the future of the region. How these key actors respond to the changing security environment will be crucial in determining the future of the security order in East Asia.
So, what does this mean for Japan?
The Chicago Federal Reserve announced Monday that the country is seeing improved economic conditions, which helped bolster a recovering stock market that remains down for the year. “The Chicago Fed National Activity Index (CFNAI) was +0.28 in January, up from −0.34 in December,” the Federal Reserve announced, indicating that economic growth has improved somewhat in the country, although the reading was still a disappointment to some analysts.
China’s rise as a quasi-superpower represents the most important change in the international system in the 21st century. China is now widely viewed as the de facto strategic rival of the United States and a potential challenger to US global supremacy, particularly in the Asia Pacific.
Many observers have described Chinese diplomacy as newly and increasingly assertive in the wake of rising tensions in the South China Sea. How should we understand this ‘new’ assertiveness?
Is India emerging as a great power? French President François Hollande’s recent trip to India included a joint statement with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, which focused on security cooperation. This encouraged some speculative enthusiasm regarding India’s ‘widening role’ in Asia’s security.
For some years now, there have been rising expectations that India would be part of the Southeast Asian balance of forces and would act as a counterweight in the Indian Ocean to China’s increasing and capricious dominance.
We think that it is still too early to say whether Friday’s price action was simply profit taking ahead of the weekend, or the resumption of overall negative market sentiment. We think the global backdrop remains conducive for risk, at least near-term. China concerns are on the back burner, while markets are still skeptical about the prospects for Fed tightening. Commodity prices are the potential spoilers to a resume risk rally, as oil ended last week on a sour note.
Prices are going up and unemployment is going down, but companies are still struggling to pay their debts. Jobless claims fell 7,000 to 262,000, below the 275,000 expected and beneath the 269,000 prior reading, according to a new report by the U.S. Department of Labor.
The Doi Moi (renovation) policy initiated by the Communist Party of Vietnam (CPV) in 1986 transformed Vietnam’s economy at the time. However, the 30-year-old Doi Moi policies have long run out of steam. If Vietnam wants to catch up with other more advanced countries in Southeast Asia, it must embark on another Doi Moi aimed at liberalising the country’s political, as well as economic, structures.
