Chief Economist, Aletheia Capital

Dr. Jim Walker

Jim Walker is the chief economist at Aletheia Analyst Network Limited, an independent research platform for the Asia Pacific region. Prior to joining Aletheia he was the founder and chief economist at Asianomics Group an economics and strategy research consultancy company formed in late 2007. 

Before establishing Asianomics he was the chief economist at CLSA Asia-Pacific Markets. He joined CLSA in late 1991. Over the years Dr Jim achieved numerous ‘best economist’ rankings in the Asiamoney, Institutional Investor and Greenwich surveys of fund managers. In 1995 he wrote about the prospect of Asia being forced off its de facto dollar peg “within the next two-three years”. The Asian Crisis, precipitated by the Thai baht devaluation, began in July 1997.

In recent years he is best known for forecasting the US 2007 downturn and financial sector meltdown in his series of ‘Apocalypse’ reports. He remains deeply sceptical of the prevailing wisdom in central banks’ approach to monetary policy.

Over the years he has also developed an approach to analysing Asian economies based on profit and credit cycles where the importance of investment spending as the driver of economic activity is explained.

Early in his career he worked in his native Scotland as a research fellow at the Fraser of Allander Institute for Research on the Scottish Economy, and then at The Royal Bank of Scotland’s Edinburgh headquarters. He holds a Bachelor of Arts Honours degree and a doctorate in economics from the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow.

Chief Economist

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Independent and original Asian investment research

Aletheia Capital

Aletheia Capital (HK) Ltd. (previously known as Asianomics) combines the extensive knowledge of its experienced team with technology and regulatory changes to disrupt Global Markets business in Asia. The firm is completely independent with no conflicts of interest either on Investment Banking advisory or Capital Markets execution.

Macroeconomics

<p>We are as upbeat about Vietnam’s economy today as we were when we visited this past September. But if there is one frustration it is that the government is still relatively slow moving on state company equitisation and privatisation. The government of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc promised last year that it would accelerate the equitisation process and list some of the country’s coveted state companies. It has been slow to do so although some progress on the over-the-counter market has been made.</p><p>Vietnam is still off most investors’ radar screen because it is not included in the emerging markets index. In order to make the market attractive to MSCI the government will need to deliver on market breadth. We suspect that will happen and open the door to Vietnam being included in the emerging market indices by 2019.  The world still awaits, and drools at the prospect, of a much broader Vietnamese market. We understand why.</p>

We are as upbeat about Vietnam’s economy today as we were when we visited this past September. But if there is one frustration it is that the government is still relatively slow moving on state company equitisation and privatisation. The government of Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc promised last year that it would accelerate the equitisation process and list some of the country’s coveted state companies. It has been slow to do so although some progress on the over-the-counter market has been made.Vietnam is still off most investors’ radar screen because it is not included in the emerging markets index. In order to make the market attractive to MSCI the government will need to deliver on market breadth. We suspect that will happen and open the door to Vietnam being included in the emerging market indices by 2019.  The world still awaits, and drools at the prospect, of a much broader Vietnamese market. We understand why.

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