MAS chief says Asian emerging markets doing better versus counterparts

They sustained growth amidst global trade woes that have hit markets like Argentina.

Emerging markets in Asia are in a ‘better place’ than its global counterparts amidst sustained growth, low inflation, and strong reserve buffers, Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) chief Ravi Menon said.

In a Bloomberg report, Menon explained that although the region’s developing economies will not be spared from the market turmoil which has spiked from Argentina to Turkey, investors will be able to see that countries, including Indonesia, have taken the right responses.

In addition, the MAS chief noted that Asia sustained its growth amidst trade war woes and rising interest rates. The region has also observed a rise in middle class, urbanization, and the market integrations to beef up trade aspects and the region’s growth, he added.

However, he warned that additional tariffs may hit both US and China with a 0.5 ppt loss for each of their gross domestic product growth.
“That will sweep down the supply chains across Asia and shave off growth in many of these small open economies in Asia,” he said. “Things could get a lot worse from this point on, but that remains a tail risk for now.”

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