Emerging Markets

New fund seen as Asia’s own IMF

Asia’s freshly enhanced financial safety net is an Asian Monetary Fund in all but name, a leading Asian policymaker declared on Friday

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S&P chief warns on US deficit as policy inertia reigns

The US will fail to tackle an exploding fiscal deficit this year, S&P president Douglas Peterson has told Emerging Markets, in a sharp reminder that the world’s biggest economy could face another downgrade within 18 months
China to let in foreign bond investors as part of market expansion

Beijing is poised to open up its bond market to foreign investors and to embrace the use of derivatives, China’s deputy finance minister revealed on Friday
India must heed S&P warning, says RBI

A warning that India’s credit rating could soon be downgraded is a much-needed shot across the bows for the government, a top central banker warned in an interview with Emerging Markets
Thailand prescribes flexible currency medicine

Nations should adopt flexible exchange rates to help cushion the impact of financial crises, according to Thailand’s finance minister

Gerard Lyons, Chief Economist & Group Head of Global Research, Standard Chartered

Financial markets braced for years of sovereign debt crisis tremors

The western sovereign debt crisis will present challenges to Asian investment for years to come, experts warned in Manila on Friday
Philippines urges solution to China islands dispute

Recent attempts to resolve a diplomatic dispute between China and the Philippines have failed but all is not lost, one of Philippines’ most senior officials has said
Beijing to learn lessons from Indian microfinance fallout

Mistakes made by microfinance institutions in India and elsewhere serve as valuable lessons to China as it seeks ways to provide basic financial services to millions of its poor
Investors hail regional bond swap plan

Finance executives cheered plans by Beijing, Tokyo and Seoul to buy each other’s bonds as another possible step towards internationalizing China’s currency
Philippines looks to bond market to meet infrastructure demand

The Philippines’ finance minister Cesar Purisima told Emerging Markets his country is looking to capital markets to help finance its infrastructure funding needs

Features

CHINA’S ECONOMY: Vision quest

China’s leaders are grappling with how to overhaul an economic model in the midst of a slowdown
TRADE FINANCE: Into the void

The withdrawal of western lenders from emerging Asia has left a shortage of funds for financing trade
BRICS BANK: Building purpose

Talk of creating a development bank serving the Brics nations could exert pressure on existing multilaterals
RMB: Reserving the right

China continues to push ahead with moves to allow its currency to assume a role commensurate with the nation’s economic status

SUSHIL KUMAR MODI: A new beginning

Restoring people’s faith in government is key to rescuing a failed state
GERARD LYONS: Asia’s degrees of freedom

Asia may not be decoupled from the West but it has plenty of room for manoeuvre
HARUHIKO KURODA: Managing risk

The worst phase of the eurozone crisis may be over, says ADB president Haruhiko Kuroda, but it still poses fundamental problems – including for Asia