We believe that the pace of global economic activity will pick up this year. The US will lead but growth in Europe has also been gaining traction and, in Japan, we can cautiously say that stimulus is slowly leading to autonomous growth in domestic demand. Against this backdrop, we are looking for a strong cyclical upswing in Asian (including China) growth in 2H14. North Asia should do better than ASEAN and, within ASEAN, Malaysia and Singapore are expected to benefit the most from a global uptick. We project general US$ strength against both the euro and the yen and most Asian currencies. Interest rates across the region should follow the Fed, which effectively means that they will stay pat. However, there are likely to be some exceptions.