[Even developed, energy-efficient economies like Japan and South Korea are feeling oil's bite. Growth in Korea is likely to be at least 20% below what the Ministry of Finance and Economy was targeting at the beginning of the year, economists estimate. In Japan, 0 oil for 12 months could shave half a percent off GDP growth in an economy that had recently begun to perk up, according to Reiji Takeishi, a senior fellow at the Fujitsu Research Institute in Tokyo. The oil-price hikes so far, estimates Morgan Stanley economist Andy Xie, mean the Asia-Pacific region is spending 1.2% more of its total GDP on oil imports than it did last year.] There's no question that oil is the strongest headwind for growth now,.. This is a very delicate moment, no doubt about it.
Andy Xie