Pantheon Publications
Below is a list of our Publications for the last 5 months. If you are looking for reports older than 6 months please email info@pantheonmacro.com, or contact your account rep.
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Daily Monitor Miguel Chanco (Chief EM Asia Economist)
- Stagflationary signs were seen in ASEAN’s PMI, as in India, but inflation is a bigger worry for the former.
- Indonesia’s soft March CPI is a big misdirect; we now see an eventual fuel price hike of 5% this year…
- …February’s export print was a let-down, but should mark the year’s low, as commodities will soon help.
- India’s Feb. IP validates our above-consensus call, but the post-GST pop in consumer goods is done…
- …Output looks poised to hit a wall in March; last week’s fuel-tax cuts buy consumers time, not relief.
- Thai consumption was having a decent Q1 pre-war, amid an easing in structural high-debt headwinds.
- Thailand’s customs trade deficit in February was a big miss, but this has been deteriorating for a while.
- The oil-price spike will likely see a current account deficit of -1.5% this year, after +3.1% in 2025.
- The BoT won’t mind if the THB falls further though, as it rightly has been more worried about strength.
- India’s PMIs have been softening for a while, but the Iran-war hit is notable, especially in manufacturing…
- …The complete PMIs for Q1 back our downbeat call for GDP of 6.1%; the long-term outlook is unfazed.
- Taiwanese retail sales—ex-vehicles—are better than they look; the war is unlikely to hurt tourist inflows.
- Oil at $150 should pose no urgent CPI risk to India; fiscally, it’s better placed to manage this shock…
- …Main threat would be higher imported inflation from late-2026, as the CA deficit would blow up.
- Indonesia could see an 11% rise in subsidised fuel prices this year—more than in 2022—with $150 oil.
- Bank Indonesia held rates yesterday, as expected, and no longer pledged to find room for more cuts.
- We lower our estimate for India’s current account deficit this year to -3.0% of GDP, due to the oil crisis.
- Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports for January- to-February point to 49.7% growth in electronics.
- The Philippines’ staggered fuel hikes won’t stop inflation from jumping above 3% this month…
- …Vietnam’s much larger adjustment bolsters our view that the SBV will hike rates at least once in H2.
- The modest pace of Indonesian retail sales growth is looking increasingly fragile once again.
- The spike and projected stickiness in oil prices due to the Middle East unrest is now material for Asia…
- …We’ve raised our 2026 inflation forecasts for India and Indonesia to 4.0% and 2.9%, respectively.
- Taiwan’s exports moderated in February amid Lunar New Year noise, but now face serious energy risk.
- BNM held rates at 2.75%, as expected, but its statement carried an unusually cautious tone.
- Singapore’s January retail sales were weaker than expected, but highly distorted by Lunar New Year.
- We raise our 2026 CPI call for the Philippines and cut that on Thailand; the difference is fuel policy.
- We see no need yet to rethink our India CPI and rate calls, as fuel prices are already unnaturally high…
- …The clearer threat to CPI this year is the slowdown in agri growth; we see February inflation at 3.2%.
- The pre-Iran-war oil-price gains had barely any impact on industry in India and ASEAN.
- Indonesian exports fell well short of expectations in January, with the commodities lift still subdued…
- …But this should change in H2, with prices set to lift growth above 10%, helping to rebuild the surplus.
- The breach of BI’s CPI target range in February is skin-deep, but we’ve upped our 2026 call to 2.7%.
- The BoT surprised almost all forecasters, including us, with an extra 25bp cut to its policy rate to 1.00%.
- At the same time, though, it has conceded the battle against structurally subdued GDP growth…
- …We still believe that 1.00% will mark the terminal rate, but more CPI misses could force another cut.
- Booming Korean exports in the first 20 days of February are mainly a semiconductor story…
- …Chip exports skyrocketed almost 180% thanks to rising prices and volumes.
- The BoK is likely to hold rates on Friday, despite soft activity outside the tech sector.
- We think GDP rose by around 3½% in Q4, with consumers’ spending up about 2½%.
- AI-linked capex probably continued to surge, while net trade and inventories also made solid contributions.
- The recent pace of growth, however, looks unsustainable; we expect a slowdown in 2026.
- GDP growth in Thailand leapt unexpectedly in Q4, to 2.5% from the post-pandemic low of 1.2% in Q3…
- …But this was largely due to a resumption of normal government business, as well as its mini-stimulus.
- We still see a broad slowdown this year, but have raised our 2026 forecast to 2.2% from 1.8%.
- Malaysian retail sales remain static, in terms of seasonally adjusted volumes…
- …We think consumption will continue to support growth, but consumer confidence seems gloomy
- We see warning signs the recovery in Indonesian consumption risks being nipped in the bud.
- Thailand’s Bhumjaithai party surprised with a clear win, smoothing A nutin’s path to becoming PM…
- …The People’s Party’s loss implies a bigger chance of internal stability and less risk of populist policy.
- We see no reason to change our growth outlook though, as structural headwinds will still dominate.
- Indonesian Q4 GDP growth beat expectations, at 5.4%, and is likely closer to 7.0% in reality…
- …Consumption is the real hero, not investment; we’ve upgraded our 2026 growth forecast to 5.1%.
- The leap in inflation in January was quite deceptive; calm food prices force us to cut our 2026 call.
- India’s 2026/27 budget is the least restrictive we’ve seen in years, seeing a trivial deficit consolidation…
- …to 4.3% of GDP; an achievable target in our view, given the natural capex ceiling and realistic tax goal.
- The start of a new anchor—debt-to-GDP—will mean faster consolidation from 2027/28 though.
- The Philippines’ Q4 GDP was grim, with growth plummeting to just 3.0%, from 3.9% in Q3…
- …We’ve yet to see signs of a bottom in investment-related indicators, while consumption remains soft.
- We’ve cut our already-below-consensus GDP growth forecast for 2026 to 4.8%, from 5.0%.
