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

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REAL-Economics.com

Macroeconomics

-With the REER down 12% in 2015 and 2% in 2016, the current account solidly in surplus and growth accelerating (reflected in stronger import growth after the acceleration to 4.5% real GDP growth in 4Q 2016), Malaysia is getting back onto the radar of non-specialist EM (emerging market) investors.-The deteriorating politics and Bank Negara's policy error (in not raising the OPR, only to see headline inflation hit an 8-year high of 4.5% YoY in February) are constraints. And Malaysia is caught in a…

-With the REER down 12% in 2015 and 2% in 2016, the current account solidly in surplus and growth accelerating (reflected in stronger import growth after the acceleration to 4.5% real GDP growth in 4Q 2016), Malaysia is getting back onto the radar of non-specialist EM (emerging market) investors.-The deteriorating politics and Bank Negara's policy error (in not raising the OPR, only to see headline inflation hit an 8-year high of 4.5% YoY in February) are constraints. And Malaysia is caught in a…

Inflation Spurts, as Do Exports: Still Waiting for BNM, but Time for a Small Bite