With the current birth rate and without immigration, Singapore’s population will begin to shrink around 2025. By 2030, there will only be 2.1 working-age citizens to support each citizen aged 65 and above. As such, of the “four Ds” impacting companies in Asia, we think Demographics will create opportunities for dividend investors.
Global stock markets have been rocked by short-term volatility triggered by falling commodity prices and the start of the US Federal Reserve’s hiking cycle. Despite the more dovish comments, the Federal Open Market Committee remains in hiking mode, with its expectation for two rate increases this year exceeding market pricing of one or less.
However, from a longer-term perspective, our views on Asian stocks haven’t changed. We have maintained for a while that companies in the region will be impacted by the “four Ds”:
- Demographics
- Deflation
- Disruption
- Deleveraging.
It is in the realm of demographics where we ...
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