Asia & Oceania Award Winners Asia is the largest continent in the world, located entirely in the eastern hemisphere, east of Europe and northeast of Africa. Oceania includes Australia, New Zealand and a host of island nations, stretching from Asia’s east coast to parts of the South Pacific in the western hemisphere. The three largest economies in Asia – China,
The Indian economy is also expected to remain subdued in 2013. Recov-
ery will be gradual as government spending and interest rate cuts from the Reserve Bank of India revive domestic demand.
In the Reuters poll, conducted between the 8th-11th and 16th-19th of
April 2013, growth estimates for China, South Korea, India and Australia were downgraded – ranging from 0.1% to 1%. Growth estimates for
Thailand, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Taiwan were upgraded. These growth rates are much higher than what is expected for developed economies in 2013.
Rob Subbaraman, chief economist for Asia at Nomura in Hong Kong,
commented: “This year is going to be a good growth year for Asia, par-
ticularly if […] we start to see global growth improving in the second half of the year.”
According to analysts, the recent drop in commodity prices will help
India and Japan – make up 27% of the world
Asian economies, which are some of the biggest importers of oil, base and
parity terms). A significant structural change
loosen policy. Mr Subbaraman added: “Even with Asian exports being
economy of the region, now stands as the
cheaper commodities that Asia will import.”
China and India.
gion. He noted: “The risk for Asia is if policymakers are too short-sighted
economy (measured in purchasing power
precious metals such as iron and gold, by allowing their central banks to
is taking place as Japan, once the dominant
quite soft at the moment it’s been buffered, in the coming months, by
fourth largest in the world, behind the US, Global rebalancing dynamics are also pres-
But he warned that excessive monetary policy easing could hurt the re-
and do not focus on the financial imbalances and asset prices, and keep
ent in financial markets, as the fast-growing
Asia Pacific region develops deeper and more
diversified securities markets. Although Japan still offers the single largest equity market
capitalisation within the region, China and
Hong Kong combined now represent 12% of total world market capitalisation.
Japan’s GDP decreased by 0.1% in the final
quarter of 2012. With a drop of 1.0% in the July to September period, the economic expansion for 2012 was limited to 1.9%. The projected average growth for 2013-14 is 1.2%.
As the most important export destination
for Japan, purchasing 20% of Japanese exports, China’s recovery will be significant for the
Japanese economy. However, tensions between China and Japan over the Senkaku Islands
will continue to decrease demand for Japanese products.
A Reuters poll showed that Asian econo-
mies are likely to grow faster in 2013 than the previous year. But because China’s recovery has been weaker than expected, the pace of expansion will remain subdued.
2013 Legal Awards
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