East Asia Econ

East Asia Today

Underlying inflation in Taiwan is catching up with the Korean run-rate of 2%. The CA surplus in Korea is starting to follow the sharp rise in the surplus in Taiwan. Consumption in Japan is showing stronger momentum.

Paul Cavey

Mar 6, 2026 • 3 min read

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Korea – no change in BOP or CPI...yet

The CA surplus was strong in January, but while NPS outflows eased, retail buying of offshore equities remained high. Core inflation ticked up to 2.3% YoY, but that was related to holiday spending. The impact of the Middle East war will only start to be seen from March data.

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East Asia Today

Before the Iran war, Taiwan's industrial sector was strongest, and leading indicators pointed to further acceleration. But in terms of broad recovery, prospects in Japan looked best, with industrial sentiment rising, but consumer confidence rebounding too.

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East Asia Today

While the big news is the bloodbath in markets, particularly Korea, there were lots of data releases today. They show that before the Iran war, economic momentum was good in Japan and Taiwan, and poor in Korea. In China, it could be either, depending on which PMI you believe.