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Asia Channel: Latest Posts
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Asia
Yuan and Won: Now This Is New
There has been much fanfare over the swap lines that China’s central bank has established with numerous countries. Many observers see those lines as evidence of the internationalization of the yuan and its increasing importance in the global economy. We were somewhat more skeptical, recognizing that the swap lines were not being used. It seemed [...]
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Asia
Meanwhile, in Japan…
Back in September, I wrote: What I expect to happen is this: The Bank of Japan will be forced into outright monetization at some point; a soft default in the form of higher inflation will occur. And dramatically higher inflation, I fear. Japan has not had inflation for two decades. I suspect they will experience all that [...]
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Asia
Great Graphic: A Critical Imbalance
This must be a Great Graphic. Both Zero Hedge and Walter Russell Mead posted it. It is from the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United Nations. It shows the significant deterioration of China’s food self-sufficiency and the improved US agricultural surplus. Europe is roughly in balance after previously being an importer. Given the intensive use of water to [...]
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Asia
The East Asian Miracle 2.0
Almost 20 years ago, the World Bank released a groundbreaking report – The East Asian Miracle – that called worldwide attention to the economic success of eight economies in the region, leading to a discussion on the extent to which policies followed by them could be replicated. In a recent Economic Premise – “Avoiding Middle-Income [...]
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Asia
China Energy Outlook: China’s Energy Strategy for the Future
Globally, only two reports are published on an annual basis wherein the world’s energy situation is fully scrutinized. These have a huge impact because in many government and company decision boardrooms – at least in Western Europe – everything which is written inside the two reports are seen as the truth, the whole truth, and [...]
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Asia
Is There an Asian RMB Bloc?
In the past two weeks we have been treated with a mostly positive but nonetheless mixed bag of economic data from China. There has been good news, bad news, good news with worrying underlying trends, and bad news with silver linings. Analysts have announced that things are getting worse and that things are getting better. [...]
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Asia
Australia Cancels Giant $1.5 Billion Solar Dawn Project
Australia’s giant, 250 megawatt, $1.5 billion Solar Dawn solar thermal power plant, planned for development in south-west Queensland, has been cancelled. The Solar Dawn Consortium, led by Areva Solar, has said that it will remain committed to the large-scale concentrated solar power industry, but that this particular project will not go ahead. Back in July [...]
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Asia
Tough Leaders, But Liberal Reforms in Uncertain World – Chinese Leadership Transition
Although seen as hard-core conservatives in the West, China’s new leaders will move toward liberal reforms. As expected, Vice-President Xi Jinping, 59, was set to succeed outgoing leader Hu Jintao as party chief, while Vice-Premier Li Keqiang, 57, is now on course for a top-level post by next March. Like President Hu Jintao and Premier [...]
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The Kapali Carsi
Quantitative easing III: Boon or bane for Turkey?
As you may (or may not) know, Economonitor is running a special topic this week: “Is QE3 harmful or beneficial to other countries?”. Therefore, as their in-house Turkey blogger, I decided to write about the same topic in my Monday Hurriyet Daily News (HDN) column- hitting one bird with two stones, as we Turks say:)… [...]
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Asia
US-China Relations in the Era of the Fiscal Cliff
In the coming months, all foreign policy initiatives of the new White House will be constrained by somber domestic realities. In the past – from the Carter and Reagan years to the Clinton and Bush years – the sharp rhetoric of the presidential campaigns has been replaced by more pragmatic policies after the elections. Much [...]
