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

Watch-Out For The Fed’s Big ‘Catch-Up’

US: Moving from Stealth to Formal Taper; Bond Yields Will Gently Rise

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

Labour Market Slack Remains but FOMC Will Need to Tighten by Mid-2021

2 Months of Stealth Taper and Mild Delta-Driven Slowdown; but Inflation Still Surging

3 Months of MoM Inflation Oblige Stealth Tightening; Overvalued Equities to Fall

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

IShares MSCI Europe Fincls Sctr Indx Fd (EUFN US)

All the inflation gauges in the US are far above the Fed's 2% inflation target. Headline CPI inflation is at a 13-year high of 5.4% YoY, headline PCE inflation at a 30-year high of 4.4% YoY, and the GDP deflator was up 5.7% QoQsaar in 3Q 2021; the Fed's preferred gauge, the core PCE deflator was up 3.6% YoY in July-August 2021, while the core CPI inflation rate was 4% YoY in September. The reason for the inflation surge is something that we have been predicting since last year -- the excessively rapid increase in money supply (M2), which was up 13% YoY in September 2021, on top of the 24% YoY rise a year ago; it is increasingly clear that the Fed effectively has a M2-growth target of 11-13% YoY, which it has maintained since April 2021. (As we keep stressing, this is much faster than M2 growth in 2009-10, which peaked at 11% YoY because the money-multiplier was depressed at a time when banks were choosing to hold large excess reserves). See our June 2020 insight <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/labour-market-slack-remains-but-fomc-will-need-to-tighten-by-mid-2021" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:40185" rel="noopener">Labour Market Slack Remains but FOMC Will Need to Tighten by Mid-2021.</a>The ECB's rapidly-shrinking credibility took a massive further hit when the first read on October 2021 inflation showed CPI (HICP) inflation at 4.1% YoY -- after the ECB's policy council chose to keep policy unchanged, stating that its analysis after "a lot of soul-searching" about "inflation, inflation, inflation" had led it to conclude that there was no basis for the market's expectations of even a minuscule rate hike in 2022. The ECB formally targets headline (not core) inflation, and with average inflation in Jan-Oct 2021 already above that (and more than double that target in October 2021), it is ludicrous for the ECB to still be pursuing its PEPP, even at a moderately slower pace. The likely outcome will be near-term appreciation of the Euro -- and sharp unexpected tightening in the Eurozone over the next half year. We would recommend being Underweight Europe, but particularly Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain. Near-term Euro strength will likely give way to a strong dollar by March 2022, as the Eurozone faces a new debt crisis with the tightening of monetary conditions in the Eurozone.

All the inflation gauges in the US are far above the Fed's 2% inflation target. Headline CPI inflation is at a 13-year high of 5.4% YoY, headline PCE inflation at a 30-year high of 4.4% YoY, and the GDP deflator was up 5.7% QoQsaar in 3Q 2021; the Fed's preferred gauge, the core PCE deflator was up 3.6% YoY in July-August 2021, while the core CPI inflation rate was 4% YoY in September. The reason for the inflation surge is something that we have been predicting since last year -- the excessively rapid increase in money supply (M2), which was up 13% YoY in September 2021, on top of the 24% YoY rise a year ago; it is increasingly clear that the Fed effectively has a M2-growth target of 11-13% YoY, which it has maintained since April 2021. (As we keep stressing, this is much faster than M2 growth in 2009-10, which peaked at 11% YoY because the money-multiplier was depressed at a time when banks were choosing to hold large excess reserves). See our June 2020 insight Labour Market Slack Remains but FOMC Will Need to Tighten by Mid-2021.The ECB's rapidly-shrinking credibility took a massive further hit when the first read on October 2021 inflation showed CPI (HICP) inflation at 4.1% YoY -- after the ECB's policy council chose to keep policy unchanged, stating that its analysis after "a lot of soul-searching" about "inflation, inflation, inflation" had led it to conclude that there was no basis for the market's expectations of even a minuscule rate hike in 2022. The ECB formally targets headline (not core) inflation, and with average inflation in Jan-Oct 2021 already above that (and more than double that target in October 2021), it is ludicrous for the ECB to still be pursuing its PEPP, even at a moderately slower pace. The likely outcome will be near-term appreciation of the Euro -- and sharp unexpected tightening in the Eurozone over the next half year. We would recommend being Underweight Europe, but particularly Italy, Greece, Cyprus and Spain. Near-term Euro strength will likely give way to a strong dollar by March 2022, as the Eurozone faces a new debt crisis with the tightening of monetary conditions in the Eurozone.  

Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDU INDEX)

Inflation Is Entrenched, and Central Bank Credibility Is Sinking, Especially the ECB's