Singapore cuts growth outlook, plans stimulus amid virus threat

Bloomberg

Singapore downgraded its forecast for economic growth for this year and plans to deliver a strong budget this week to counter the threat of the coronavirus outbreak on tourism and trade.
The Ministry of Trade & Industry on Monday projected growth in a range of -0.5% to 1.5% in 2020, compared with a previous estimate of 0.5% to 2.5%. The baseline view is for expansion around the midpoint of 0.5%, it said, although the outlook is still unclear.
“As the COVID-19 situation is still evolving, there is a significant degree of uncertainty over the length and severity of the outbreak, and hence its overall impact on the Singapore economy,” Gabriel Lim, permanent secretary at the ministry, told reporters in Singapore.
The spread of the virus will hurt growth prospects at a time when the economy was showing some signs of a tentative rebound in electronics and improving manufacturing sentiment. The economic impact is already more severe than during the 2003 Sars pandemic, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was cited as saying.
The city state, which has more than 70 cases of virus infections, is losing as many as 20,000 tourists a day amid travel curbs. DBS Group Holdings Ltd has already lowered its growth projection for this year to 0.9% from 1.4% previously.
Growth worries are escalating across the region. Thailand lowered its 2020 outlook on Monday, forecasting growth in a range of 1.5%-2.5% from 2.7%-3.7% previously. The economy expanded at its weakest pace in five years in 2019, even before the virus hit the tourism industry that makes up about one-fifth of Thai GDP.
Recession fears are also growing in Japan following a bigger than expected contraction in GDP in the fourth quarter. Governments are stepping up stimulus to counter the economic hit from the virus. Economists in a Bloomberg survey predict Singapore Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat will push the budget deficit to its widest in almost two decades in a budget due to be delivered on Tuesday.
The local dollar gained 0.2% to S$1.3901 against the US currency as of 12:03 pm in Singapore.

“A large fiscal support will help cushion the economy and do much of the heavy lifting,” said Irene Cheung, a foreign exchange strategist at Australia & New Zealand Banking Group. “Whether that is enough depends on developments on the outbreak.”
The Monetary Authority of Singapore, which uses the exchange rate as its main policy tool, is monitoring the situation closely and affirmed its policy stance remains unchanged, Deputy Managing Director Edward Robinson told reporters Monday. The MAS’s next scheduled policy decision is in April.

The ministry published final estimates for the fourth quarter, which showed gross domestic product expanded at a slightly faster pace at the end of the year than previously estimated: GDP rose an annualized 0.6% from the previous three months, versus an earlier projection of 0.1%, and gained 1% from a year ago
Manufacturing contracted an annualized 5.9% in the fourth quarter from the previous three months; services expanded 2.2%, and construction rose 5.3%
In a separate report Monday, Enterprise Singapore said it sees non-oil export growth in a range of -0.5% to 1.5% in 2020