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princess_morbucks
11-12-13, 12:35
But big risks for Indonesia, Philippines, and Vietnam.

Singapore emerges as one of the top economies set to outperform in 2014 along with Korea, Hong Kong, and Taiwan, according to Standard and Poor's Ratings Services.

Here's more:

Credit conditions for Asia-Pacific issuers have improved in the fourth quarter of 2013 because China's GDP growth has stabilized at about seven-and-a-half percent and the likelihood of a hard landing has abated in the near term.

In addition, the risks to Asia-Pacific from U.S. Federal Reserve's tapering of quantitative easing (QE) have lessened, as external imbalances in Asia-Pacific's key deficit countries narrowed as a result of capital outflows in mid-2013.

"However, looking ahead into 2014, we anticipate credit conditions could tighten again and become more volatile as QE tapering affects market interest rates," said Standard & Poor's credit analyst Andrew Palmer.

"Still, the impact of U.S. Fed taper-driven capital outflows has lessened with substantial external adjustment already having taken place in Asia's deficit economies."

"We consider baseline growth will be pretty steady for the region. If the U.S. economy and global trade growth both pick up steam, as we expect, then GDP growth in Asia, led by the more open economies, should be able to grind higher," added Standard & Poor's chief economist for Asia-Pacific Paul Gruenwald.

The report says that regional growth will rise fractionally from 5.3% in 2013 to 5.4% next year, while emerging Asia will see growth rise 0.3 percentage points (ppt) to 6.3% over the same period.

China is on track for 7%-7.5% growth in 2014, while Japan's ability to digest a 3 ppt consumption tax hike in April is a key test for Abenomics. But Asia's Tiger economies--Korea, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan--look set to outperform in 2014.

"However, this trajectory of regional growth will continue to stress some countries and industry sectors," said credit analyst Terry Chan. "We believe the economies of Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand, and Vietnam have high country risks. In addition, the sovereign ratings on India and Japan are on negative outlooks, which have a knock-on effect on the ratings on public finance entities there.

On a sectoral basis, financial institutions and companies in the chemicals, building materials, and metals and mining industries have among the highest net ratings biases."



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princess_morbucks
11-12-13, 12:37
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/singapore/economists-expect-s-pore/918736.html?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

SINGAPORE: Private sector economists are now more optimistic about Singapore's economic performance this year.


According to Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) latest quarterly survey of professional forecasters, GDP is expected to grow 4.7 per cent in the fourth quarter, up from 3.4 per cent in the September survey.


They also raised their growth forecast for 2013 to 3.8 per cent, up from the 2.9 per cent previously.


This comes after the city-state's economy outperformed economist expectations in the third quarter.


The Singapore economy expanded by 5.8 per cent in Q3 2013 compared with the same period last year, higher than the expected 4.0 per cent.


Economists' growth expectations are in line with the MAS' full year growth forecast of 3.5 to 4.0 per cent.


Inflation for 2013 is expected to ease slightly - with headline inflation forecasted to fall to 2.4 per cent, compared to 2.5 per cent in the previous survey.


MAS core inflation is expected to come in at 1.7 per cent this year, slightly lower than 1.9 per cent in the last survey.


Going into 2014, economists raised their full year GDP growth forecast to 3.9 per cent.


Meanwhile, headline inflation is projected to come in at 2.8 per cent, and core inflation at 2.3 per cent next year.