Asia's very complicated interest-rate pause and sticky inflation

All central banks assert they move independently from the Fed. In practice, they tend to replicate broad trends in American credit

Interest-rate pauses aren’t exactly in trouble, but things are beginning to look awkward for officials eyeing a decent break.

World growth isn’t falling off a cliff and inflation has failed to ease up quite as expected in some big economies. The more fortitude the expansion shows, the greater the risk of a policy mistake. At least in 2022, the direction of policy was abundantly clear.  
 

While the resilience of the US economy may get a lot of attention, the situation in Asia bears close scrutiny. In South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia, rate hikes have already been suspended. But the