Asia Chart of the Week:Mo’credit

That many Asian economies have stacked up on debt in recent years is hardlynews. What’s more surprising to many investors, arguably, is that it is not simplycompanies and governments that have splurged, but increasingly households,too. China is a good example: while consumer leverage, on average, is still low,it has grown rapidly of late, fuelling the rebound in housing demand over the past18 months or so. Elsewhere, household debt is not expanding quite as briskly,but is already high in Australia, New Zealand, Taiwan, Korea, Singapore, HongKong, Malaysia, and Thailand