The change of board does not detract from broader global investigations into the finances of 1MDB which is still a residual overhang notwithstanding 1MDB’s improved balance sheets after the sale of its energy assets.

Weiwen Ng

Categorized in : World

Singapore's exports to China continued to decline, underscoring Singapore's vulnerability to the waning momentum of the Chinese economy.

Export data from Singapore as well as the region confirm persistent cyclical and structural pressures on Asian trade, should the dismal export print persist or worsen, it will raise the odds of downside risks to Singapore's growth and put an October MAS easing into view, though that's not our base case at this juncture.

We should not actually be fooled by the data. It's very clear that manufacturing ex-biomed continues to contract and it will continue to do so in the coming months.

Today's NODX print reinforced our view that risks to the growth outlook is clearly skewed to the downside and could possibly elicit a further calibration in policy settings.

Growth is clearly undershooting. Core inflation is still benign for now. So normally that would actually warrant an easing in monetary policy settings, when the central bank actually next meets in October.

On 1MDB, it really boils down to the lack of transparency which cements it as a known unknown, greater transparency and accountability of the 1MDB issue would certainly help for future sales of assets and any such possible restructuring.