Forbes Asia - June 2018

FORBES ASIA

SIDELINES

A

t Asian meetings in early May,

I noted that the good but not

great global economy is akin to

a sturdy old guitar with very taut strings,

poised to play the inancial chords that

have stopped the international music

before (think 2008) and remain subject

to sudden upsets. hough international

trade has been much in the news with

the blustery new U.S. positions, leverage

and closely interwoven banking relationships pose more acute risks.

Subsequently, a political scare out of Italy (would it reject the euro?) underscored

the point. Markets trembled. Earlier on, indebted emerging economies were the source

of worry. Some are basket cases from misrule—Venezuela and Iran in the present

and Argentina and South Africa in the recent past—but others are still fundamentally

functional if seriously hobbled—Brazil, Turkey, Mexico, Nigeria.

In Asia, the recent fretting has centered on Indonesia, the Philippines and India be-

cause of foreign borrowings or capital outlows. hey all irmed up as May ended, but

this was a reminder of how even seemingly robust output records can mask vulner-

abilities. In smaller economies in South Asia—Pakistan and Sri Lanka—glaring weak-

nesses remain. he willingness of China to pump loans into precarious client states is

cold comfort in an environment of tightening monetary policies, led by Washington.

Equity and property markets have remained frothy, not yet relecting these gather-

ing storms. At what point, with rising interest rates, does this end? (hat was a concern

of tycoons with whom I met in Hong Kong.) One ray of sunshine amid these clouds

is the stability of Malaysia even as a political revolution toppled the long-dominant

governing circle. A true housecleaning of the muck of decades of cronyism would ofer

a chance for a legitimate leap to “rich economy” status. hat this would commence

now under Mohamad Mahathir, so much a part of past heavy-handed eforts to elevate

Malaysia in the face of inancial lurries, is rich with irony.

T

he bigger they get, the slower they rise or fall—usually. hat’s the rule for our

annual Global 2000 roster of the world’s largest public corporations. Some

turbocharged entries are exceptions. Take three from China: Ping An Insurance

(see p. 44) crashes the Top 10, from No. 16 last year. Internet combine Tencent jumps

from No. 148 to No. 107. And most impressive, new-economy juggernaut Alibaba

Group makes our 5% pantheon at No. 81, rising all the way from No. 140 last year.

Tightly Wound

Tim Ferguson

Editor, forbes asia

[email protected] AP PHOTO/SADIQ ASYRAF

6 | FORBES ASIA JUNE 2018

FORBES MAGAZINE
CHIEF CONTENT OFFICER Randall Lane
EXECUTIVE EDITOR Michael Noer
ART & DESIGN DIRECTOR Robert Mansield

FORBES DIGITAL
VP, INVESTING EDITOR Matt Schifrin
VP, DIGITAL EDITOR Mark Coatney
VP, PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT Salah Zalatimo
VP, WOMEN’S DIGITAL NETWORK Christina Vuleta
ASSISTANT MANAGING EDITORS
Frederick E. Allen LEADERSHIP
Loren Feldman ENTREPRENEURS
Janet Novack WASHINGTON
Michael K. Ozanian SPORTSMONEY
DEPARTMENT HEADS
Mark Decker, John Dobosz, Clay Thurmond
Jessica Bohrer VP, EDITORIAL COUNSEL
FOUNDED IN 1917
B.C. Forbes, Editor-in-Chief (191754)
Malcolm S. Forbes, Editor-in-Chief (195490)
James W. Michaels, Editor (196199)
William Baldwin, Editor (19992010)

Editor Tim W. Ferguson
Editorial Director Karl Shmavonian
Art Director Charles Brucaliere
Senior Editor John Koppisch
Wealth Lists Editors Luisa Kroll, Kerry A. Dolan
Photo Editor Michele Hadlow
Statistics Editor Andrea Murphy
Research Director Sue Radlauer
Online Editor Jasmine Smith
Reporter Grace Chung
Intern Prisca Ang

Editorial Bureaus
Beijing Yue Wang
Shanghai Russell Flannery (Senior Ed.); Maggie Chen
India Editor Naazneen Karmali

Contributing Editors
Bangkok Suzanne Nam
Chennai Anuradha Raghunathan
Hong Kong Shu-Ching Jean Chen
Jakarta Justin Doebele
Melbourne Lucinda Schmidt
Perth Tim Treadgold
Singapore Jane A. Peterson
Taipei Joyce Huang
Vietnam Lan Anh Nguyen

Columnist Ben Sin
Production Manager Michelle Ciulla

EDITOR-IN-CHIEF

Steve Forbes

Mahathir’s Malaysia is oasis of financial calm.