The global economic slowdown is hitter harder and faster than everybody expects.
The Singapore Ministry of Finance lowered its 2009 growth forecast for the second time in three week, dropping its annual growth target from -2% to a range of -2% to -5% instead.
“Data releases in the past two weeks for retail sales and unemployment in the U.S., industrial production in Europe, and exports by Asian economies suggest that external demand conditions have weakened to a greater extent than earlier estimated.”
And it admitted that its Q4 GDP shrinkage increased from -12.5% to -16.9%. That’s a very large downward revison.
