Fed Hawk Urges Patience, What's Next for Central Banks: Eco Day

(Bloomberg) -- Welcome to Wednesday, Asia. Here’s the latest news and analysis from Bloomberg Economics to help get your day started:

• Kansas Fed President Esther George, who’s been one of the most hawkish members of the central bank’s policy group, urged her peers to be patient and pause before considering additional rate increases
• The euro-area economy isn’t headed for a recession, even though softening momentum underscores the need for European Central Bank stimulus, says President Mario Draghi
• A railway and an airport are just two of the infrastructure projects facing delays in the Philippines as law makers deadlock over the government’s budget
• Indonesia posted its largest-ever trade deficit last year, this chart shows
• The world’s debt pile is hovering near a record at $244 trillion, which is more than three times the size of the global economy
• Germany narrowly avoided recession at the end of 2018 after a slump in industry raised concerns over Europe’s growth engine
• Central banks enter the new year under pressure from investors to rethink just how aggressive they can be hiking interest rates. Here’s our updated guide to what they might do in 2019

To contact the reporter on this story: Chris Bourke in Sydney at cbourke4@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nasreen Seria at nseria@bloomberg.net, Tracy Withers

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