MSI

The first estimate of Japan’s third quarter GDP growth shows that trade surpluses are no longer one of the key drivers of economic activity. All the 1.6% growth in the first nine months of this year has been generated by domestic demand – private consumption, investments and government spending....

Last week set off an impressive demonstration of Asia’s regional leadership dedicated to cooperation, free trade and economic welfare. It all started with the summit of ASEAN (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, October 25-28, 2025, where the organization welcomed Ea...

Excessive trade surpluses with the U.S., and large structural trade deficits with China, should be a serious concern for the European Council (a forum of heads of state and government) and its executive commission in Brussels. As things now stand, nothing indicates that those existential questions a...

Annual summits of ten Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) and of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum will be held later this month to discuss issues of economy, trade and global security. On the margins of these meetings are planned U.S. summits with China and India. Speculations about ot...

The economy will be the central issue in the next week’s leadership election of Japan’s governing Liberal Democratic Party (LDP) that has almost continuously held power since 1955. The frontrunner is Sanae Takeichi, Japan’s former internal affairs minister. This is her third attempt to win the...

About one-fifth of India’s trade is currently conducted in East Asia. China and ten countries of Southeast Asia (ASEAN) account for most of those trade transactions. And that’s where India should concentrate efforts to integrate its economy with the fastest growing part of global demand and outp...

With its economic growth of 1.65% in the first half of this year, the European Union is hitting the physical limits to its demand and output. That partly explains the European Central Bank’s reluctance to ease credit conditions to offset fiscal tightening in several major member country economies....

America’s “trade tariffs war,” universally denounced by mainstream media, is a simpler version of provisions in the IMF’s original charter imposing symmetric obligations on deficit and surplus countries to adjust their external trade accounts. In the early years of IMF’s operation (1944-45...

With an economy of $4 trillion and a population of 670 million, the ten Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN*) are expected to grow about 5% this year. That is by far the highest growth rate of any similar regional trading blocs, and more than three times faster than the world’s most advanced economies....

With a budget deficit of 3.1% of GDP, an inflation rate of 2%, the euro’s effective appreciation of 7% since the beginning of this year and a trade surplus of $114 billion, the European monetary union has plenty of room to offset a recessionary shock to its weak economy in case of problems with ex...