Time for Asia to let go of current account surpluses: DBS economist

Singapore

ASIA needs to stop running current account surpluses to arrest declining investment, said David Carbon, head of economics and currency research at DBS.

"On average, Asia-10 countries have run current account surpluses to the tune of 6 per cent of GDP (gross domestic product) every year since 1998. This means that they have lent 6 per cent of their income to foreign countries every year for the past 18 years," noted Mr Carbon at a media briefing on Asia's outlook for the third quarter of 2015. "They could have been investing that much at home instead," he added.