Why Korea's current economic situation feels like déjà vu

Very similar to the "MPC revolt of 2004".

According to Nomura, they view Korea's current situation as similar to 2004, when the government formulated a supplementary budget, stimulated the property market and implicitly pressed the Bank of Korea to cut rates (the so-called "MPC revolt of 2004").

The rate cuts of 2004 are regarded as a policy mistake, as the lower interest rates resulted in a domestic debt overhang, which became a major structural factor for weak domestic demand.

Here's more from Nomura:

Our baseline view is that the Bank of Korea (BOK) will not make the same mistake again. However, we see risks that the BOK might be forced to cut rates in April (a 40% likelihood), which would likely worsen the household debt problem.

Newly appointed Finance Minister Hyun Oh-Seok stated that the government will announce a stimulus package as early as this week. Hyun hinted that the stimulus package will be a mix of policies, including fiscal, financial and property market policies.

In our view, the current situation surrounding the BOK looks similar to 2004, when the government implicitly pushed the BOK to cut rates.

Reaching the people who run Asia's businesses is harder than it used to be.

Inboxes are crowded. Attention is short. The executives you most want to reach — the founders, CFOs, and operators who actually move budgets — are the hardest to find through the usual channels. If you're building a company, a category, or a reputation, you already know this.

We've spent twenty years building the room they read. Singapore Business Review is where senior decision makers in Singapore and across Southeast Asia come for business coverage they can't get elsewhere — in print, online, and in person at the summits and roundtables we host across seven markets.

If you have something these readers should know about — a point of view worth publishing, a product worth their attention, an event worth their time — we'd like to hear what you're trying to do.

Book a meeting

| Or download the media kit (PDF)

240,000 senior readers quarterly in print Top 1,700 Singapore companies reached

7 markets across Southeast Asia