China’s economic recovery has a slow start

China’s economic growth started slowly. Most migrant workers go back to work after China’s biggest holiday.

But preliminary analysis indicates that overall growth has yet to return to all previous levels, even though mainland China ended its containment of COVID in December.

For example, business loans rose but household loans fell in January compared to last year.

In 2019, city road and metro traffic were falling below ‌pre-pandemic levels. Turnover in trucking is still small compared to a year ago.

New home sales were lower last year, mainly because sales in mid-sized cities dropped and construction activity got better.

Household mortgage demand went down, so there was a more steep drop in medium and long-term loans than short-term ones.

The bureau released January inflation data, which showed subdued demand as consumer prices rose 2.15% from a year ago – slightly lower than analysts had expected.

The core consumer price index, excluding food and energy, rose 1.4% in January. This is the same as in June 2022.

The producer price index, which measures factory input costs, fell 0.83% in January from a year ago, compared to forecasts for a 0.53% decline.

China’s yuan is falling against the U.S. dollar, which shows that global demand is falling. Also, South Korea’s exports dropped 14.53% in the first 10 days of February after adjusting for the Lunar New Year holiday.

Chinese politicians will help the domestic economy. It’s also unknown how much demand will increase from China’s growth after the Lunar New Year holiday.

Economic and geopolitical headwinds

Escalation of the conflict due to the Russia-Ukraine war and a slowdown in the global economy are some of the downside risks that Singapore should be prepared for.

Singapore already has a strong foundation and brand and is highly valued for honesty, integrity, and commitment.

In the face of many challenges, Singapore hopes to be a key hub in the global supply chain.