Chief Economist & Political Strategist, CrossASEAN Research

Prasenjit K. Basu

PK Basu has 34 years experience covering Asia's economies and markets (equities, fixed income and currencies), including 20 years covering the global economy. He was Chief Economist (SE Asia & India) at Credit Suisse First Boston for 5 years, and Chief Asia (x-Jpn) Economist at Daiwa Securities for a similar period. Among other roles, he was global head of research at Maybank Kim Eng, Malaysia equity research head and chief ASEAN economist at Macquarie, Chief Economist at ICICI Securities, ASEAN economist at UBS and the first chief economist at Khazanah Nasional (where he was co-head of research, and led all agri-business initiatives). PK Basu started his career in the Asia Service of WEFA (Wharton Econometrics) in Philadelphia in 1990, rising to be Director of their Asia Service in June 1994. 
PK's book, "Asia Reborn: A continent rises from the ravages of Colonialism and War to a New Dynamism" won the Tata Literature First Book Award (non-fiction) for 2018. It is the first single chronicle of the modern economic and political history of the whole of Asia (from Iraq and Turkey to Korea and Japan, and everything in between), told from an Asian perspective.

Chief Economist & Political Strategist

China's 2021 Will Look Spectacular in 1Q, but Overcapacity Will Bite Thereafter

China Has Had a Great 2020, but Over-Capacity Will Cause Headaches in 2021

2021 to Mark the Return of Inflation: Fed Hike by Mid-Year Implies Risk-Off by 2Q/21

CrossASEAN Research

At CrossASEAN Research we strive to produce unbiased and differentiated on the ground insights on companies across South East Asia. Our Research is produced for the most part after face to face meetings and conversations with company management to dig deep into the long term vision and strategy of the companies we cover. We seek to deliver investable and actionable themes on sectors and markets across SE Asia, often in collaboration with other Insight Providers across the region, pooling the vast experience of the analysts within the Smartkarma Ecosystem. We also offer bespoke work and tailor made trips for our clients. 

Insights across South East Asia

Macroeconomics

China has had a spectacular 1Q 2021, with exports and industrial output soaring relative to the low base in Jan-Feb 2020 (the one quarter in which China's economy shrank last year), but also growing at a good clip relative to 2019 (+33% for exports and +1.9% for industrial output); imports were up 17.3% in Jan-Feb 2021 relative to 2 years ago. This suggests that real GDP should grow about 12% YoY in 1Q 2021, or expand 4.7% relative to 1Q 2019.   While the current account surplus widened to 1.8% of GDP in 2020 (the largest in dollar terms globally at US$301 billion), and the surplus for April-December 2020 was US$335 billion, foreign reserves only increased by US$156 billion during that 9 month period. So net capital outflows were substantial, at US$179 billion in April-December 2020, at a time when the RMB was appreciating, and China should normally have attracted net capital inflows. Chinese residents continue to find ways of taking capital out of China. During Jan-Feb 2021, net services and capital outflows were US$115 billion (with foreign reserves down US$12billion). Despite massive overcapacity across most industrial sectors, China did not shed its addiction to fixed asset investment (FAI), which increased by 2.9% in 2020, even as the rest of the world was in recession. In Jan-Feb 2021, FAI surged by a further 35.1% YoY -- thus expanding 16.9% relative to its level in Jan-Feb 2019. The surge in FAI is adding more capacity to industries already burdened by overcapacity, at a time when external demand is set to weaken as the rest of the world's economies gradually reopen, reducing demand for China's exports. With external and domestic demand likely to slow (the latter weakened by capital flight), the rest of 2021 will be increasingly difficult for China's economy.

China has had a spectacular 1Q 2021, with exports and industrial output soaring relative to the low base in Jan-Feb 2020 (the one quarter in which China's economy shrank last year), but also growing at a good clip relative to 2019 (+33% for exports and +1.9% for industrial output); imports were up 17.3% in Jan-Feb 2021 relative to 2 years ago. This suggests that real GDP should grow about 12% YoY in 1Q 2021, or expand 4.7% relative to 1Q 2019.   While the current account surplus widened to 1.8% of GDP in 2020 (the largest in dollar terms globally at US$301 billion), and the surplus for April-December 2020 was US$335 billion, foreign reserves only increased by US$156 billion during that 9 month period. So net capital outflows were substantial, at US$179 billion in April-December 2020, at a time when the RMB was appreciating, and China should normally have attracted net capital inflows. Chinese residents continue to find ways of taking capital out of China. During Jan-Feb 2021, net services and capital outflows were US$115 billion (with foreign reserves down US$12billion). Despite massive overcapacity across most industrial sectors, China did not shed its addiction to fixed asset investment (FAI), which increased by 2.9% in 2020, even as the rest of the world was in recession. In Jan-Feb 2021, FAI surged by a further 35.1% YoY -- thus expanding 16.9% relative to its level in Jan-Feb 2019. The surge in FAI is adding more capacity to industries already burdened by overcapacity, at a time when external demand is set to weaken as the rest of the world's economies gradually reopen, reducing demand for China's exports. With external and domestic demand likely to slow (the latter weakened by capital flight), the rest of 2021 will be increasingly difficult for China's economy. 

China: Large Net Capital Outflows Presage Trouble as Excess Capacity Begins to Bite