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

REAL-Economics.com

Macroeconomics

We continue to expect another rate cut from the BoK at its next policy meeting, given that inflation remains low (0.7% YoY CPI inflation), and the 12-month rolling trade surplus continues to hit new records every month. In <a href="https://www.smartkarma.com/insights/korea-mercantilist-gains-from-tot-and-won-yen-create-ample-policy-space" target="_blank" data-smartkarma-citation="insights:4160">Korea: Mercantilist Gains from ToT and Won/Yen Create Ample Policy Space</a> a month ago, we asserted that the record levels of trade and current account surpluses (aided by a highly competitive Won/Yen cross rate) provided considerable room for additional policy stimulus/easing…

We continue to expect another rate cut from the BoK at its next policy meeting, given that inflation remains low (0.7% YoY CPI inflation), and the 12-month rolling trade surplus continues to hit new records every month. In Korea: Mercantilist Gains from ToT and Won/Yen Create Ample Policy Space a month ago, we asserted that the record levels of trade and current account surpluses (aided by a highly competitive Won/Yen cross rate) provided considerable room for additional policy stimulus/easing…

Korea: Still on Track to Cut Rates and Ease Mercantilist Surpluses