Photo by cresk

Mr Seng Wun Song, Regional Economist from CIMB-GK Research, delivered a seminar titled “What Are The Prospects of A 2009 Recovery?” at the SMART Investments & Properties 2009 held at Suntec Convention & Exhibition Centre today. Below are some of the keypoints (in my opinion):

• The better than expected economic figures for Jan & Feb in the US may be due to the ‘Obama Effect’ as Americans went out to spend with the election of a new charismatic President
• Spending is probably on credit
• The high number of job losses in 2008 will filter into the real economy
• More credit card debt will be written off by the banks. This is the same for banks in Singapore as foreign expats default on their debt as they are sent home
• The increase in bank lending in China is lacking transparency as they could be just loans to state-owned enterprises to satisfy the central government’s order. Half of the lending quota for 2009 was met in 2 months Read more…