Asia Financial Services

The global economy appears to be moving into a new phase, in which output in advanced economies is firming, albeit probably not as strongly as we would have liked. Developing country growth appears to be slowing, including in the Asia-Pacific region. Our retreat, of course, came in the wake of the decision by the US Federal Reserve to defer its...

As part of its strategy of boosting non-oil exports to new markets, the government is seeking to expand the availability of trade finance for its exporters, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). “If we want to prevent the ongoing volatility from disrupting our export growth, then we should not focus on exporting goods only to...

While foreign direct investment (FDI) has sustained 22% average annual growth over the past six years, according to statistics from HSBC, the composition of investment has broadened beyond the traditionally dominant extractive industries. As part of a regional rebalancing of FDI, the focus of investment into Indonesia is shifting from purely...

Growing prosperity, improved wealth distribution and a burgeoning middle class are set to fuel a rapid rise in private consumption within the ASEAN bloc countries in the coming years, a trend that will be given further impetus by the greater regional integration that will follow the launch of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015. According...