The Singaporean economy posted better-than-expected results in the first quarter of this year, official data showed yesterday, but the government warned that the global outlook remains gloomy.
The Southeast Asian city-state’s economic performance is often seen as a barometer of the global environment because of its reliance on international trade.
Its economy expanded 0.4 percent year-on-year in first three months, slower than the 2.1 percent year-on-year growth in the previous quarter, but better than an advance estimate released last month, figures released by the Singaporean Ministry of Trade and Industry showed.
Photo: AFP
Quarter-on-quarter, the economy shrank 0.4 percent, but that was also better than expected.
The ministry maintained its growth forecast for this year of 0.5 to 2.5 percent, saying that the figure was likely to be in the middle of that range.
However, “downside risks in the global economy have risen,” it added.
Photo: AP
In its statement, it cited a “sharper-than-expected tightening in global financial conditions,” and “escalations in the war in Ukraine and geopolitical tensions among major global powers.”
There was a weak reading from the manufacturing sector, which shrank 5.6 percent year-on-year in the first quarter, worsening from the 2.6 percent shrinkage in the fourth quarter last year.
“Singapore’s external demand outlook for the rest of the year has weakened,” the ministry said.
“Apart from the expected slowdown in the advanced economies, the electronics downcycle is likely to be deeper and more prolonged than earlier projected,” it added.
Meanwhile, Germany fell into a recession around the turn of the year, official figures published yesterday showed, as inflation and higher interest rates curbed demand in Europe’s largest economy.
Over the first three months, the economy shrank 0.3 percent, the federal statistics agency Destatis said, downgrading an initial estimate of zero percent.
Following a 0.5 percent contraction in the final three months of last year, it was Germany’s second consecutive quarter of negative growth — the threshold for a “technical recession.”
The slump came as Germany battled a surge in energy prices in the wake of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, which has weighed on households and businesses.
The increased cost of energy has driven inflation, which sat at 7.2 percent in Germany last month, down only slightly from its peak toward the end of last year.
“The persistence of high price increases continued to be a burden on the German economy at the start of the year,” Destatis said in a statement.
Taiwanese suppliers to Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. (TSMC, 台積電) are expected to follow the contract chipmaker’s step to invest in the US, but their relocation may be seven to eight years away, Minister of Economic Affairs J.W. Kuo (郭智輝) said yesterday. When asked by opposition Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Legislator Niu Hsu-ting (牛煦庭) in the legislature about growing concerns that TSMC’s huge investments in the US will prompt its suppliers to follow suit, Kuo said based on the chipmaker’s current limited production volume, it is unlikely to lead its supply chain to go there for now. “Unless TSMC completes its planned six
Intel Corp has named Tasha Chuang (莊蓓瑜) to lead Intel Taiwan in a bid to reinforce relations between the company and its Taiwanese partners. The appointment of Chuang as general manager for Intel Taiwan takes effect on Thursday, the firm said in a statement yesterday. Chuang is to lead her team in Taiwan to pursue product development and sales growth in an effort to reinforce the company’s ties with its partners and clients, Intel said. Chuang was previously in charge of managing Intel’s ties with leading Taiwanese PC brand Asustek Computer Inc (華碩), which included helping Asustek strengthen its global businesses, the company
Power supply and electronic components maker Delta Electronics Inc (台達電) yesterday said second-quarter revenue is expected to surpass the first quarter, which rose 30 percent year-on-year to NT$118.92 billion (US$3.71 billion). Revenue this quarter is likely to grow, as US clients have front-loaded orders ahead of US President Donald Trump’s planned tariffs on Taiwanese goods, Delta chairman Ping Cheng (鄭平) said at an earnings conference in Taipei, referring to the 90-day pause in tariff implementation Trump announced on April 9. While situations in the third and fourth quarters remain unclear, “We will not halt our long-term deployments and do not plan to
TikTok abounds with viral videos accusing prestigious brands of secretly manufacturing luxury goods in China so they can be sold at cut prices. However, while these “revelations” are spurious, behind them lurks a well-oiled machine for selling counterfeit goods that is making the most of the confusion surrounding trade tariffs. Chinese content creators who portray themselves as workers or subcontractors in the luxury goods business claim that Beijing has lifted confidentiality clauses on local subcontractors as a way to respond to the huge hike in customs duties imposed on China by US President Donald Trump. They say this Chinese decision, of which Agence