Asia’s financial markets are going through a rocky patch, yet investors are determinedly seeing the silver lining and seeking out places to put their money. This week we take a tour of some of the region’s shakier asset groups and talk to people who are in the midst of the chaos.
(Bloomberg) — Asia’s financial markets are going through a rocky patch, yet investors are determinedly seeing the silver lining and seeking out places to put their money. This week we take a tour of some of the region’s shakier asset groups and talk to people who are in the midst of the chaos.
China, South Korea, who’s next? A wave of distressed debt caused by property developers overborrowing caused havoc in China, while the default of a developer of the Legoland theme park in Korea forced the government to step in to prevent a full-blown crisis. Now warning bells are ringing in Southeast Asia’s biggest economy after years of infrastructure spending by President Joko Widodo. Here’s why Indonesia could become the next big debt wreck.
Pakistan’s financial troubles, meanwhile, are immediate and huge. Inflation is at a 48-year high, foreign reserves cover barely a month of imports and the country is still counting the cost of last year’s devastating floods. While political parties bicker and the government seeks an IMF bailout, this is the story of what it’s like for ordinary people to try to survive in an imploding economy.
Across the border in India, the Adani Group’s brutal slump in the past weeks continued on Friday after MSCI Inc. cut the amount of shares it considers freely tradable. Read Bloomberg Businessweek’s profile of the man who took on the Indian billionaire.
China’s markets have also lost momentum, but speculators have found a new squirrel to chase in the country’s equities, writes Sofia Horta e Costa in the latest edition of This Week in China.
For a much slower moving but potentially more catastrophic financial train wreck, we take a look inside the gravity-defying world of state pensions. As the cost of covering payments soars in developed economies, draining government coffers, we’ll all need to work for longer, save more or receive less. Naturally, we’re not happy about that and opposition to pension reform is causing governments to balk at taking measures such as raising the retirement age. Are we sliding back to the era when only the rich didn’t have to work till they died?
This week’s devastating earthquakes have brought mounting criticism of Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan from survivors and opposition parties over the country’s poor construction record and disaster response. With the death toll passing 24,000, critics say a delay in sending cranes and heavy machinery to lift concrete slabs missed a critical window to save people, while tens of thousands may still buried under the rubble.
Finally, on a more optimistic note, after 100 years of being locked down, working on her music, the lady above is finally able to travel to Europe. Yesterday, the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam opened an exhibition of the largest collection of Vermeers ever assembled, with paintings coming from as far as Japan. Read about the growing trend in art for the once-in-a-lifetime exhibition.
Have a colorful weekend.
(Corrects to say a developer of South Korea’s Legoland defaulted, not the theme park.)
More stories like this are available on bloomberg.com
©2023 Bloomberg L.P.