East Asia Econ

East Asia Today

In light of Trump's threats against South Korea, an update on tariff levels in the region. Levies on China are highest, but China's USD export prices have been rangebound for 18M, and the stability of PPI in 2H25 has continued into 2026. Finally, my latest video discussing fiscal fear in Japan.

Paul Cavey

Jan 28, 2026 • 2 min read

Public Post

Japan – overcoming fiscal fear

My latest video, discussing the work I've been doing looking at Japan's fiscal position.

Subscribers Only

East Asia Today

Data releases everywhere today: industrial profits in China; services PPI inflation in Japan; business sentiment through February in Korea; and Taiwan's leading indicator and consumer confidence.

Subscribers Only

Japan – easing inflationary pressure

Some of the slowdown in services PPI inflation is due to lower goods price inflation, but the combined result points to softer downstream inflation. SPPI inflation in high labour-intensive sectors is still over 3% YoY, but the recent MoM run-rate of under 2% is too low for the BOJ's inflation target