Thailand
Singapore’s economy probably rebounded in the last three months as GDP results are due
Thursday is the big day for data on the region’s economic health with Singapore announcing advanced estimates of third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) and China releasing some key inflation indicators. Australia announces it September jobless rate on the same day.
Singapore’s economy grew by 1.3 percent in the September quarter, according to Moody’s Analytics. GDP contracted minus 1.8 percent in the second quarter.
“Singapore suffered a quarterly contraction [in Q2] as a resurgence of Covid-19 cases triggered tighter distancing restrictions and weighed on the domestic demand revival. A relatively strong net trade position is expected to have supported the third-quarter turnabout, but domestic consumption is likely to see only a moderate pickup from the last quarter,” said Moody’s economists Katrina Ell, Shahana Mukherjee and Denise Cheok.
Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry has upgraded the country’s annual GDP forecast to between 6 and 7 percent from a range of 4 to 6 percent.
In China consumer prices rose 0.8 percent in September, unchanged from the previous month, according to Moody’s, while producer price rises increased slightly to 9.7 percent from 9.5 percent in August. Soaring coal prices have prompted power producers to suspend electricity generation, forcing factories to halt production. Industrial output fell in September for the first time since the emergence of the Coronavirus and the resulting product shortages have been fuelling producer price inflation.
Coronavirus closures across the Australian states of New South Wales and Victoria probably pushed up the country’s jobless rate. Unemployment rose to 5 percent in September from 4.5 percent in August according to Moody’s.
South Korea’s jobless rate is out tomorrow and probably remained at 2.8 percent last month.
Unemployment fell to a record low in August, surprising economists who attributed the fall to people leaving the workforce and not looking for new jobs because of continuing Coronavirus restrictions. Anyone who tests positive for Covid-19 in South Korea has to isolate in government-run facilities or hospital.
The government is holding a top-level meeting this week to draw up guidelines on how to live with the pandemic in an attempt to get the country back to a level of normality.
Source: https://www.khmertimeskh.com/50950403/singapores-economy-probably-rebounded-in-the-last-three-months-as-gdp-results-are-due/