East Asia Econ

Japan – the BOJ gets closer, with inflation remaining firm

While the BOJ remained on hold today, the two dissenting votes to hike are important signals in the direction of travel. The context is inflation that remains firm, with today's August national CPI data showing some signs of underlying inflation starting to creep higher again.

Paul Cavey

Sep 19, 2025 • 3 min read

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East Asia Today

This is a bit later today, as I was going through the conclusions of Taiwan's CBC meeting. So that's included below, plus more details of China's August exports (providing further evidence of the re-acceleration in auto sales), as well as Japan's July machine orders.

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Taiwan – calmer macro, CBC on hold

Macro volatility – in inflation, growth, property prices and the TWD – eased in Q3, and it was no surprise that the CBC was on hold today. That won't change if AI demand growth slows. But the AI cycle has proven tough to forecast, and I'd expect the CBC will also be faced with more TWD strength.

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China – auto exports accelerating

China's trade data are published over the course of four releases each month. We are now onto the second, with three main takeaways: auto exports are accelerating again, import demand is up, and the trade surplus continues to broaden.