Now is a good time to invest in bonds in China and Southeast Asia, a top analyst in Hong Kong has said.
Speaking in an interview with CNBC, Uwe Parpart, chief strategist at Capital Link International, said the fixed income market in parts of Asia and the credit cycle in China were “pointing up.”
“There is a good situation for bond investment in China and it’s similarly good in Southeast Asia, especially in Thailand, and to some extent in Indonesia,” he said.
Over the longer term, the biggest issue, he believed, was whether the United States would be able to avoid an economic downturn in coming months.
“I think the actual risk in this trade war at the moment doesn’t lie in China but lies in the United States,” Parpart said.
The San Francisco Federal Reserve Bank had warned about the possibility of recession “so we have to see if the tax-cut driven economic upturn is sustainable – I do not believe it is. Once higher prices hit the US consumer as these tariffs actually begin to bite from goods imported from China these dangers [of a downturn] become very real.”
Uwe Parpart is also editor of Asia Times.