East Asia gloom deepens as S'pore heads into recession<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (AFP): The storm-clouds gathering over East Asia's
\nexport-led economies darkened Saturday when Singapore reported an
\n0.8 percent contraction of its manufacturing sector in April.<\/p>\n
The decline in the sector followed year-on-year growth of 13.3
\npercent in February and 6.4 percent in March, according to
\ngovernment figures.<\/p>\n
The figures, which the city state's Economic Development Board
\n(EDB) said largely reflected a collapse in demand for electronics
\nexports, particularly from the United States, confirmed fears
\nthat Singapore's economy is headed for a recession.<\/p>\n
They will also add to the broader sense of gloom in the
\nregion, coming a day after similarly pessimistic data from Taiwan
\nand Hong Kong.<\/p>\n
Taiwan announced on Friday that growth had slumped to a 26-
\nyear-low of 1.1 percent in the first quarter. Hong Kong reported
\ngrowth of just 0.3 percent in the same period and slashed its
\nforecast for the year as a whole from 4.0 to 3.0 percent.<\/p>\n
Electronics account for 55 percent of Singapore's exports and
\nthe sector has been hit hard by the slowdown in the US, where
\nlatest economic figures suggest the economy ground to a virtual
\nstandstill in the first three months of the year.<\/p>\n
With the slump in April, growth in manufacturing output for
\nthe first four months of the year was at a marginal 1.6 percent,
\nthe EDB said in a statement.<\/p>\n
The electronics sector dipped 8.8 percent April, leading an
\nalmost across-the-board decline. The electronics industry
\ncontracted 1.4 percent in the January to April period.<\/p>\n
Only the fledgling biomedical sciences sector, which is being
\ndeveloped to reduce dependence on electronics, bucked the trend,
\nposting a 64.9 percent increase in output.<\/p>\n
\"Reflecting the worldwide downturn in demand for
\nsemiconductors, output of chips was depressed due to weak
\norders,\" the EDB said.<\/p>\n
\"The output of telecommunications equipment continued to slide
\nbecause of poor demand from Asia Pacific market. Output of disk
\ndrives was reduced due to slackened demand and erosion of
\nprices,\" it said.<\/p>\n
The chemicals cluster contracted 0.9 percent, with mild growth
\nin petroleum and petrochemicals output failing to offset a 7.9
\npercent drop in the production of specialty chemicals.<\/p>\n
The engineering group fell 1.0 percent due to a 14.4 percent
\ndecline in precision engineering.<\/p>\n
Biomedical sciences saved the day for the manufacturing
\nsector, rising almost 65 percent. Pharmaceuticals surged 87.2
\npercent and medical devices output was up 12.1 percent.<\/p>\n
In a survey by the EDB of business expectations published
\nearlier this month, 29 percent of industrialists expected
\nconditions to deteriorate over the next six months, while just 10
\npercent saw an improvement.<\/p>\n
Singapore's gross domestic product (GDP) growth slowed to 4.5
\npercent in the first quarter, from 11 percent in the last three
\nmonths of 2000.<\/p>\n
Trade ministry chief economist Tan Kong Yam said earlier this
\nmonth that second quarter GDP would be weaker than the first and
\nadmitted that a technical recession -- two consecutive quarters
\nof falling output -- was on the cards.<\/p>\n
The ministry has however maintained its full year growth
\nforecast of 3.5-5.5 percent with a recovery expected in the
\nsecond half of the year in tandem with an expected US economic
\nrevival.<\/p>\n
Private sector analysts are not so confident and have warned
\nthe government may have to slash its annual forecast and that any
\npickup will not come before next year.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/east-asia-gloom-deepens-as-spore-heads-into-recession-1447893297",
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