East Asia Econ

East Asia Today

Highlights of longer notes on the regional outlook, and growth trends in Korea. Also, a summary of today's inflation data in Taiwan, where import prices are rising, but export prices are too. Finally, high-frequency upstream price data in China, and the April monetary base update in Japan.

Paul Cavey

May 7, 2026 • 3 min read

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Korea – semi still offsetting energy

The BOK's current forecast assumes no GDP growth in the rest of the year, and contracting exports. But export growth still looks to be picking up, capex indicators are improving, and there is a tailwind from growth in real Gross Domestic Income in Q1 being faster than any time since the 1990s.

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Region – slide pack

With the full consequences of the Iran War yet to be felt, the outlook remains uncertain. But so far, upside risks to inflation in the region are dominating the downside risks to growth. The big driver is the semiconductor cycle. The pack starts with regional themes, then 15 charts for each economy.

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East Asia Today

The S&P/RatingDog PMI suggests China's services sector is doing much better than is indicated by the official version. Korean CPI data for April today showed the impact of the energy price spike has so far been modest. Taiwan's fx reserves last month bounced after the fall in March.