Asia's dollar dilemma: Lessons from Japan Asia's current account surplus economies have long been exporters of capital to the rest of the world. Through the mid- 2010s, widening external surpluses led to strong EM Asia central bank FX reserve accumulation, fueling demand for global fixed income assets in general, and for US treasuries in particular. But the drivers of this flow are shifting. Rather than central banks, in several economies the private sector is emerging as the more significant channel for re ...