Chief Economist & Political Strategist, CrossASEAN Research

Prasenjit K. Basu

PK Basu has 35 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 and Asia sector strategist 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

Indonesia: Firing on All Cylinders (But One) With Inflation at a 60-Year Low

REAL-Economics.com

Macroeconomics

With CPI inflation below 3.5% YoY in January, and the current account likely to have improved sharply in 4Q 2016, we expect a 25bp rate cut at this month's monetary policy meeting. The Jakarta gubernatorial election is a political wildcard, although a Black Swan outcome is looking less likely: Ahok needs to win if President Jokowi is not to be destabilized halfway through his first term.Robust exports bolster the quarterly trade surplus to a 5-year high in 4Q 2016. The export rebound stayed on…

With CPI inflation below 3.5% YoY in January, and the current account likely to have improved sharply in 4Q 2016, we expect a 25bp rate cut at this month's monetary policy meeting. The Jakarta gubernatorial election is a political wildcard, although a Black Swan outcome is looking less likely: Ahok needs to win if President Jokowi is not to be destabilized halfway through his first term.Robust exports bolster the quarterly trade surplus to a 5-year high in 4Q 2016. The export rebound stayed on…

Indonesia: On Track for a Rate Cut Soon