The tremors have subsided. The ground is getting a little firmer. After soaring infections that decimated lives and livelihood across much of Asia, vaccines and stepped-up containment measures have finally offered some relief. After China’s property stumble, the policy gears are gradually shifting towards greater support. After the big ‘energy crunch’, supply and prices have begun to relent. And even gummed up supply chains are now showing some flickers of improvement.

The Year of the Tiger, then, should see the region’s economies step out with a firmer gait, if not quite yet with their customary swagger  and roar. COVID-19, after all, will still need to be vanquished. Exports may fizzle as world demand tilts back from goods to services. And local consumption may take a while to regain its prior vigour amid still soft labour markets. The good news, though, is that inflation will stay contained for the most part, allowing Asia’s central banks to lag a more determined Fed.