Economic indicators in Singapore and Hong Kong point to tentative recovery /06.01.2010

TWO of Asia's powerhouse economies, Singapore and Hong Kong, are showing signs of optimism as trade figures and GDP growth forecasts seem to signal that these economies are on the path to solid economic growth again.

One of the typical indicators that a country’s economy is getting back on track is of course exports.

According to figures released by International Enterprise Singapore, the island state's year-on-year non-oil domestic exports rose by 8.7 per cent in November, up from the 6.2 per cent decline in October.

Non-oil exports to five of the country's top ten markets increased year on year, particularly to the European Union, where exports grew by 18 per cent, and Hong Kong and Taiwan, which saw increases of 36 per cent and 60 per cent growth respectively.

Singapore’s GDP is forecast to contract by just 2 per cent this year, a smaller contraction than what many had first projected a few months ago of 3.6 per cent.

At the beginning of 2010 now and the news appears to be even better.
A recent report by Channel News Asia stated that private sector economists have revised up their expectations on the Lion City’s GDP growth expectations next year from 4.5 per cent to 5.5 per cent.

Speaking with Bloomberg on the state of the Singapore economy, Action Economics economist, David Cohen said, “the data so far has been pretty encouraging and that’s contributing to the optimism as we go into 2010,” he said.

However, the economist did add that this does not preclude the possibility of further “jitters in the financial markets”, as the economic outlook for Singapore and the global economy still remains uncertain.

csm.hksg.com