Last year bond investors only had to pick the right
country to make profits in Asia. This year the focus is on
individual credits, and there are plenty to choose from. Investors need to do their homework. Governments and corporates are issuing
fast and furiously. Corporates want an alternative to bank lending,
over-reliance on which, they say, caused some of their past
troubles. Governments are issuing even when they don't need the
money, to create a domestic market and build up a curve. Pauline
Loong reports on Hong Kong, Singapore, the Philippines and
Indonesia, Dominic Jones on Korea and Taiwan, Gill Baker on
Thailand and Malaysia.
February 01, 2000