East Asia Today

Services trade in China in July suggests net trade continued to make a positive contribution to GDP growth at the start of Q3. In Japan, Tokyo CPI in August confirms the expected rise in inflation in 2H. Exports early in the month were strong, but Toyota sales through July look to be slowing.

Paul Cavey

Aug 28, 2026 • 2 min read

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East Asia Today

The highlights today were deputy governor Himino's speech in Japan, and the BOK meeting in Korea. Tech profits in China remain strong, but aren't lifting overall earnings. Consumer confidence in Taiwan weakened in July, while the official Monitoring Index continues to point to an economic boom.

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Korea – "pre-emptive"

Today's BOK meeting didn't throw up any big surprises: core CPI and growth forecasts were raised against the backdrop of the TOT shock, and the bank hiked again with the aim of being "pre-emptive". However, Governor Shin's remarks at the press conference produced a lot to digest.

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Japan – Himino hawkish

Deputy governor Himino's argued today that all the main macro dynamics are pushing up prices, underlying inflation has been rising, and so there is now a risk of "underlying inflation exceeding 2%". Unsurprisingly, he didn't spell out the policy implications, but it does sound quite hawkish, no?