Coming off a slow year in 2019, there remains no break in sight yet for China. The coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak poses new problems not only to China’s economy, but as well as the rest of Asia’s. This comes on the heels of the rising number of infections and deaths from COVID-19, which, as of 14 February 2020, has had over 64,000 cases of infection and 1,383 deaths globally.

The bulk of both figures have been recorded in mainland China and the Chinese government has already taken steps to contain the outbreak. Hubei province, where the virus was first recorded, has been placed in lockdown and work has also ceased in many companies throughout China. Furthermore, many countries have tightened, if not closed, their borders to China. This, combined with the temporary shutdown of offices and factories, has had a drastic impact on the global supply chain. Despite these measures, the new disease continues to breed uncertainty and raise questions about its impact on industries and the economy in general.

In this RadioFinance session, we discuss with Natixis chief economist for Asia Pacific and China financial market expert Alicia Garcia-Herrero the looming threat of COVID-19 as well as the outlook for the Asian economy throughout the year.

The discussion focuses on these key topics:

• The 2019 economy and how it influences the outlook for 2020
• The challenges China and Asia will face for the rest of the year
• The coronavirus threat and its potential implications to the global economy

 

Speaker:

Alicia Garcia-Herrero, Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at NATIXIS

Alicia Garcia-Herrero is Chief Economist for Asia Pacific at NATIXIS. She also serves as Senior Research Fellow at the European think-tank BRUEGEL, and Senior Research Fellow at El Cano Royal Institute for International Relations. She is currently adjunct professor at University of Science and Technology (HKUST) as well as HKUST Business School. Alicia serves at the Board of the Hong Kong Forum and she is also a member of the Council of Advisors of the Hong Kong Monetary Authority Institute for Monetary Research (HKMA). Alicia has a PhD in Economics at George Washington University and is author of numerous journal articles and books. She is also a regular contributor in Bloomberg and CNBC as well as a columnist for Nikkei Asia Review and Brink.