gross domestic product — pressrun.net

Thursday, January 3, 2013 By Abhijit

Singapore’s close shave with recession

Singapore has been spared a widely feared recession. The government yesterday reported the economy grew 1.8 per cent in the fourth quarter of 2012 compared with the third quarter, when the gross domestic product shrank 6.3 per cent. But look how narrowly Singapore averted a recession in the third quarter. The revised estimates put out by the ministry show the economy grew 0,2 per cent, and not 0.5 per cent in the second quarter as previously reported. Two straight quarters of negative growth would have meant the economy was in recession.

	2012 Q1	Q2	Q3	Q4
GDP (quarter on quarter)	9.5	0.2	-6.3	1.8

Actually, the ministry initially reported the economy contracted 0.7 per cent in the second quarter compared with the first quarter. The ministry said so in this press release dated August 10, 2012.

Filed Under: Singapore Tagged With: gdp, gross domestic product, recession, singapore economy

Wednesday, January 2, 2013 By Abhijit

How Singapore averted recession

The Singapore economy grew 1.2 per cent in the 2012, averting a widely feared technical recession in the fourth quarter when the gross domestic product rose 1.8 per cent from the previous quarter. How? The answer is simple.

The hawker stall assistant, the salesgirl, the hotel cleaner, the delivery man, the property agent, the technician and, yes, the bankers collectively contribute more to the Singapore economy than the factory operators, construction workers and engineers. The city-state is becoming a service economy where “goods-producing industries”, including manufacturing and construction, account for just about one-third of the total gross domestic product.

Singapore 2011 GDP

This was their share of the 2011 GDP, and we will see the same pattern in earlier years and the first three quarters of 2012.

That is why there was no recession despite a continuing slump in the manufacturing and construction sectors. Manufacturing dropped for the third quarter in a row, down 10,8 per cent from the previous quarter, while construction fell for the second quarter, down 8.9 per cent. And yet the economy beat back recession on the back of a resurgent services sector. After falling two quarters in a row, the services sector gained 7 per cent. That was enough to avert a recession.

Filed Under: Singapore Tagged With: construction, gdp, gross domestic product, manufacturing, recession, services

Friday, January 13, 2012 By Abhijit

Singapore second freest economy: Heritage Foundation

Singapore is the second freest economy in the 2012 Heritage Foundation Economic Freedom Index after Hong Kong. Singapore stands out for having the lowest unemployment rate as well as the lowest government spending as a percentage of the gross domestic product (GDP) among the top 10 countries on the Economic Freedom Index. (In the Asia Pacific region, government spending as a percentage of GDP is lower in Taiwan, ranked 18th on the Economic Freedom Index, and Indonesia, ranked 115th.) The 10 freest economies are

Hong Kong
Singapore
Australia
New Zealand
Switzerland
Canada
Chile
Mauritius
Ireland
United StatesContinue Reading

Filed Under: Singapore, World Today Tagged With: 2012, economic freedom index, gdp, government spending, gross domestic product, singapore, unemployment

Thursday, October 14, 2010 By Abhijit

Singapore economy hit by worst quarter in a year

Singapore’s sizzling growth in the first half of the year ended with the economy shrinking by nearly 20 per cent in the third quarter compared with the previous quarter. This is the worst quarterly performance in a year.

The Ministry of Trade and Industry is toughing it out, announcing today that “the Singapore economy remains on track to achieve the overall forecast of 13 to 15 per cent growth for the whole of 2010″. It said:

“Advance estimates showed that the economy expanded by 10.5 per cent in the third quarter compared with a year ago.”

Singapore GDP quarterly growth

But – here comes the rub – the economy contracted by 19.8 per cent compared with the previous quarter.

Filed Under: Singapore Tagged With: economy, gdp, gross domestic product

Wednesday, September 8, 2010 By Abhijit

Freefall: The world according to Joseph Stiglitz

Singapore is, by common consent, one of the most open economies in the world. Yet, more than 80 per cent of the Singaporeans live in public housing, the buses and trains are run by two government-linked companies, the mainstream media really state media – the television stations owned outright by a state investment firm, the print monopoly traditionally headed by former government ministers or officials – and many of the top local companies are also linked to the government.

And this economic model has worked very well for Singapore.

As I mentioned in an earlier post, Joseph Stiglitz says in his book, Freefall:

Government has played an especially large role in the highly successful economies of East Asia… Singapore, Korea, Malaysia, and a host of other countries followed and adapted Japan's (government-led growth) strategy and saw per capita incomes increase eightfold in a quarter century.

Filed Under: Books, Singapore Tagged With: america, ben bernake, bhutan, deficit, deregulation, development, dollar, economy, education, export, freefall, gdp, global, gross domestic product, happiness, health, iceland, income gap, japan, job, joseph stiglitz, larry summers, obama, reagan, recession, reserve, robert rubin, roosevelt, stiglitz, surplus, timothy geithner, trade, united nations

Thursday, August 19, 2010 By Abhijit

Iraq war flashbacks as last US combat brigade exits

Remember Rageh Omaar, who reported from Baghdad for the BBC when the Iraq war began in 2003? This is how he reported the arrival of US forces in Baghdad and the toppling of Saddam's statue in April 2003. Here you can see President George W Bush claiming "Mission accomplished" aboard the US aircraft carrier Abraham Lincoln in early May 2003.

This is how the BBC showed Saddam Hussein's medical examination following his capture. And this is the CNN report on his execution. (I couldn't watch it).

All because of 9/11. This video shows the second plane hitting the Twin Towers of the World Trade Centre in New York. You can hear the newscasters gasp. What a terrible tragedy. I remember watching it on CNN and couldn't believe my eyes. It was like the end of the world.

As the last US combat brigade pulls out of Iraq, leaving behind more than 50,000 US soldiers in the country, here's a moment of remembrance:

Filed Under: World Today Tagged With: 9/11, afghanistan, baghdad, base, bbc, brigade, capture, china, combat, defence, economy, execution, gdp, george bush. us, gross domestic product, indian ocean, iraq, killed, naval, new york, rageh omaar, saddam hussein, soldiers, string of pearls, trillion, twin towers, world trade centre

Wednesday, August 11, 2010 By Abhijit

Singapore GDP higher than before recession

The Singapore economy has not only recovered from the recession but has grown bigger than it was before. The gross domestic product totalled S$72.6 billion (about $53.3 billion) in the second quarter of this year, considerably more than it was during the same period last year (S$61.1 billion) and the second quarter of 2008 (S$62.2 billion). That was before the recession, which began in October 2008. All the GDP figures are at 2005 market prices.

Manufacturing continues to play the biggest role in the economy followed by wholesale and retail trade, financial services and business services. See the next chart showing the performance of each industry.

Filed Under: Singapore Tagged With: business, economic survey, economy, financial, gdp, gross domestic product, industry, manufacturing, ministry, recession, retail, services, trade, wholesale

Tuesday, July 20, 2010 By Abhijit

Singapore economist compares Singapore with China

State-owned enterprises or government-linked companies (GLCs) are taking a bigger and bigger share of the economic pie in both Singapore and China. And, in both countries, labour gets the lowest share of the national income in the form of wages.

So says Singapore-born Linda YC Lim, a professor of business strategy at the University of Michigan, in a paper which asks: Why do East Asians save so much?

One reason is high property prices. Then again, "Some economies—Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong—have forced-saving schemes or national “provident funds” with high rates of mandatory contributions out of earned income."

Nevertheless, there is a growing income gap between the rich and the poor. It is the high income earners, GLCs and multinationals that are thriving in "corporatist" Singapore, she adds.

Unlike in other East Asian countries, domestic consumption in Singapore fell from 46.3 per cent of the gross domestic product (GDP) in 1990 to 38.6 per cent in 2007 and in China from 50.6 per cent to 36.4 per cent, says Lim. Private consumption and wages are probably held in check in Singapore by the presence of a large and growing foreign workforce which, like the multinationals, wants to send money home, she adds.

Filed Under: Singapore Tagged With: asian, china, consumption, corporate, corporatist, domestic, east asia, east asian, economy, gdp, GLCs, gross domestic product, hong kong, japan, Linda Lim, Linda YC Lim, michigan, national income, power, r government-linked companies, save, savings, state, university, wages

Saturday, March 6, 2010 By Abhijit

Singaporeans richer than Americans?

Singapore now boasts a higher per capita income (when adjusted for local purchasing power) than the United States, Matt Miller wrote in a Washington Post article reproduced in the Straits Times yesterday.

Yes, Singapore's gross domestic product per capita is higher than that of the United States when adjusted for purchasing power parity, according to the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF). And per capita GDP reflects a country's per capita income, says Wikipedia.

There is a problem in making such comparisons, however, as we shall see.

In 2009, according to the IMF, Singapore's per capita GDP after adjusting for purchasing power parity (PPP) was 49,433 international dollars while that of the United States was 46,443 international dollars. (See Wikipedia article.)

But there's no such thing as the international dollar in the real world. It's a hypothetical unit of currency used to compare purchasing power across countries. Even then it has its shortcomings, if you look further.

Filed Under: Singapore Tagged With: america, gdp, gross domestic product, IMF, international dollar, International Monetary Fund, median household income, per capita, PPP, purchasing power parity, united states

Tuesday, February 23, 2010 By Abhijit

Defence spending 25%, education 21%

Defence gets the lion's share, as usual, of the Singapore budget for the financial year 2010, beginning in April. Education comes second.

Defence gets 11.5 billion Singapore dollars (SGD11.5 billion or about $8 billion) — that is, 25 per cent of the total estimated expenditure, according to the Finance Ministry.

Education gets more than SGD9.6 billion, or 21 per cent.

The expenditure estimates posted on the Finance Ministry website total 46.3 billion Singapore dollars (SGD46.3 billion), as shown in this chart.

That does not include the SGD5.2 billion of special transfers to top up Medisave accounts and set up a National Productivity Fund.

Those raise the budget to SGD51.5 billion (about S36.6 billion). Government revenue is estimated at SGD48.6 billion. So there will be a deficit of nearly SGD3 billion — about 1.1 per cent of the GDP — Singapore's third deficit in a row, according to the Straits Times.

Filed Under: Singapore Tagged With: budget, defence, deficit, economy, education, finance, gdp, gross domestic product, home affairs, ministry, transport

Singapore’s close shave with recession

Like this:

How Singapore averted recession

Like this:

Singapore second freest economy: Heritage Foundation

Like this:

Singapore economy hit by worst quarter in a year

Like this:

Freefall: The world according to Joseph Stiglitz

Like this:

Iraq war flashbacks as last US combat brigade exits

Like this:

Singapore GDP higher than before recession

Like this:

Singapore economist compares Singapore with China

Like this:

Singaporeans richer than Americans?

Like this:

Defence spending 25%, education 21%

Like this:

Twitter Follow

Recent Posts

Blogroll

Blogroll 2

Meta

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Share this:

Like this:

Twitter Follow

Recent Posts

Blogroll

Blogroll 2

Meta