Category: Economy

Developing Asia to Grow Just 0.1% in 2020 — ADB

Viet Nam is forecast to grow 4.1% in 2020.

Developing Asia will barely grow in 2020 as containment measures to address the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) hamper economic activity and weaken external demand, according to a new set of forecasts from the Asian Development Bank (ADB).

According to the report , excluding the newly industrialized economies of Hong Kong, China; the Republic of Korea; Singapore; and Taipei,China, developing Asia is forecast to grow 0.4% this year and 6.6% in 2021.

“Economies in Asia and the Pacific will continue to feel the blow of the COVID-19 pandemic this year even as lockdowns are slowly eased and select economic activities restart in a ‘new normal’ scenario,” said ADB Chief Economist Yasuyuki Sawada. “While we see a higher growth outlook for the region in 2021, this is mainly due to weak numbers this year, and this will not be a V-shaped recovery. Governments should undertake policy measures to reduce the negative impact of COVID-19 and ensure that no further waves of outbreaks occur.”

Risks to the outlook remain on the downside. The COVID-19 pandemic may see multiple waves of outbreaks in the coming period and sovereign debt and financial crises cannot be ruled out, the report goes on. There is also the risk of renewed escalation in trade tensions between the United States and the People’s Republic of China (PRC).

East Asia is forecast to grow 1.3% in 2020—the only subregion to experience growth this year—while growth in 2021 will recover to 6.8%. Growth in the PRC is forecast at 1.8% this year and 7.4% in 2021, compared to the April estimates of 2.3% and 7.3%, respectively.

Hit hard by COVID-19, South Asia is forecast to contract by 3.0% in 2020, compared to 4.1% growth predicted in April. Growth prospects for 2021 have been revised down to 4.9% from 6.0%. India’s economy is forecast to contract by 4.0% in fiscal year (FY) 2020, ending on 31 March 2021, before growing 5.0% in FY2021.

Economic activity in Southeast Asia is expected to contract by 2.7% this year before growing by 5.2% in 2021. Contractions are forecast in key economies as containment measures affect domestic consumption and investment, including Indonesia (-1.0%), the Philippines (-3.8%), and Thailand (-6.5%). Viet Nam is forecast to grow 4.1% in 2020. While that is 0.7 percentage points lower than ADB’s April estimates, it is the fastest growth expected in Southeast Asia.

Central Asia’s economic activity is expected to contract by 0.5% compared to the 2.8% growth forecast in April due to trade disruptions and low oil prices. Growth is forecast to recover to 4.2% in 2021.

Restricted trade flows and declining tourism numbers have dampened economic outlook for the Pacific subregion. The subregional economy is forecast to contract by 4.3% in 2020 before rising to 1.6% growth in 2021.

Source: ADB

 

World Bank Reports True Impact of Covid-19 Globally

As countries around the world contend with the health emergency of the COVID-19 pandemic, the economic effects of mitigation measures have immediately impacted the world’s commodity markets and are likely to continue to affect them in the longer term. 

The global economic shock of the pandemic has driven most commodity prices down and is expected to result in substantially lower prices over 2020, the April Commodity Markets Outlook reports. The following figures are courtesy of the World Bank.

The COVID-19 pandemic is expected to plunge most countries into recession in 2020, with per capita income contracting in the largest fraction of countries globally since 1870. Advanced economies are projected to shrink 7 percent. That weakness will spill over to the outlook for emerging markets and developing economies, who are forecast to contract by 2.5 percent as they cope with their own domestic outbreaks of the virus. 

Taking care of the land and preserving biodiversity – through healthy soil, reliable water access and pollinators – is vital for providing livelihoods for rural populations, particularly during times of economic shock like that caused by the current COVID-19 pandemic.

Healthy ecosystems have been shown to provide a lifeline to the poorest. The Poverty Environment Network project that collects income data of forest adjacent communities from 24 countries, estimates that environmental income (most of it from the forest) represents 28 percent of total income of these households 

COVID-19 Economic Impact Could Reach USD8.8 Trillion Globally —ADB Report

According to the Asian Development Bank the global economy could suffer between USD5.8 trillion and USD8.8 trillion in losses—equivalent to 6.4% to 9.7% of global gross domestic product (GDP)—as a result of the Corona Virus pandemic.

The report finds that economic losses in Asia and the Pacific could range from USD1.7 trillion under a short containment scenario of 3 months to USD2.5 trillion under a long containment scenario of 6 months, with the region accounting for about 30% of the overall decline in global output. The People’s Republic of China (PRC) could suffer losses between USD1.1 trillion and USD1.6 trillion.

Governments around the world have been quick in responding to the impacts of the pandemic, implementing measures such as fiscal and monetary easing, increased health spending, and direct support to cover losses in incomes and revenues. Sustained efforts from governments focused on these measures could soften COVID‑19’s economic impact by as much as 30% to 40%, according to the report. This could reduce global economic losses due to the pandemic to between $4.1 trillion and $5.4 trillion.

The analysis, which uses a Global Trade Analysis Project-computable general equilibrium model, covers 96 outbreak-affected economies with over 4 million COVID-19 cases. In addition to shocks to tourism, consumption, investment, and trade and production linkages covered in the ADO 2020 estimates, the new report includes transmission channels such as the increase in trade costs affecting mobility, tourism, and other industries; supply-side disruptions that adversely affect output and investment; and government policy responses that mitigate the effects of COVID-19’s global economic impact.

Under the short and long containment scenarios, the report notes that border closures, travel restrictions, and lockdowns that outbreak-affected economies implemented to arrest the spread of COVID-19 will likely cut global trade by $1.7 trillion to $2.6 trillion. Global employment decline will be between 158 million and 242 million jobs, with Asia and the Pacific comprising 70% of total employment losses. Labor income around the world will decline by $1.2 trillion to $1.8 trillion—30% of which will be felt by economies in the region, or between $359 billion and $550 billion.

Source: ADB staff estimates.

Note: The 3-month and 6-month containment periods assumed in the scenarios are country-specific. They are the assumed time needed for a country to get a domestic outbreak under control from when the outbreak intensifies and start normalizing economic activity.

Apart from increasing health spending and strengthening health systems, strong income and employment protection are essential to avoid a more difficult and prolonged economic recovery. Governments should manage supply chain disruptions; support and deepen e-commerce and logistics for the delivery of goods and services; and fund temporary social protection measures, unemployment subsidies, and the distribution of essential commodities—particularly food—to prevent sharper falls in consumption, the report says.

NBS Reveals Q1 Depth of Corona-Virus impact on economy

According figures released by the National Bureau of Statistics, Large Scale Industrial Enterprise Profits decreased by 27.4 percent falling to 1.256 trillion RMB

In the Q1, among the industrial enterprises above designated size, the profits of state-holding Industrial enterprises were around 304.63bn RMB, a decrease of 46.0 percent year-on-year; that of joint-stock enterprises stood at 924.9b  RMB, a fall of 26.6 percentage points; and that of foreign funded enterprises, and enterprises funded from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan fell by 28.8 percent to 312.13bn RMB; private enterprises lost 17.2 percent y-o-y to 392.01bn.

At the same time, profits of the mining and quarrying sector decreased by 35.2 percent to 111.01bn RMB billion yuan; manufacturing fell 26.8 percent to 1,026.95bn  RMB; and production and distribution of electricity, heat, gas and water fell 24.3 percent to 121.83bn RMB.

Could China weaponize its FX in a Trade War? Does it have a ‘Nuclear Option?’

Amid the talk of a new Cold War with China some analysts are warning that China could use weaponize its vast foreign currency reserves – it’s massive US Treasury Bond Holdings (T-Bills) – and dump them on the open market. To understand this arrangement read Understanding China Foreign Exchange.

Often referred to as the ‘nuclear option,’ – and not without good reason –  has the potential to cause a massive spike in U.S. interest rates, sink the US stock market and freeze credit markets, pushing the U.S. even further and deeper into recession. This would of course create major problems for whoever happens to be President.

The problem is, for the alarmists, they underestimate the damage this do to the Chinese economy. Firstly the as the selloff started the overall value of it’s holdings would plummet; meaning China would be getting pennies on the dollar for what it has taken years to save.

A second factor is that such a move would push Beijing’s dream of the RMB as a reserve currency – a hard policy objective for many years – decades into the future. It would also leave the US relatively unscathed in the short term as the Fed – as it loves to do – could simply print the money to buy back the Treasury Bonds, in a kind of Buzz Lightyear QE ‘To Infinity and Beyond’ program. The economic equivalent of kicking the financial can another generation or two down the road.

China is now world’s second largest importer

It would also terrify foreign investors in China as the value of the RMB lost stability. One of the ways Beijing controls the value of the RMB is by maintaining a foreign currency reserve basket – of which, at present T-Bills make up about USD1.1 trillion as of March 31, 2020. The majority of which are held as reserves to collateralize trade and to capitalize China’s banking system.

Furthermore, a mass selloff would put downward pressure on the RMB and force China to devalue it’s currency and continuing the selloff could lead to a depreciation spiral. A spiral that would make it ever harder to retrieve those dollar reserves.

This spiral would have been less of a worry twenty years ago when China could claw back dollars hand over fist with its epic trade surplus. But those days are long gone, and trade surpluses in the future are likely to be far more meagre, especially as China enters uncertain economic territory as the global Covid-19 crisis continues to wreak economic havoc around the world.

This combination of factors ensures China will continue to need substantial foreign currency reserves both to maintain it’s exchange rate against hard currencies but also to ensure it retains it’s capacity to settle hard currency denominated trade – especially important now China is the world’s second largest importer.

But let’s not get complacent. While the ‘nuclear option’ may be off the table, Beijing has many more weapons in it’s arsenal it could use to make more than uncomfortable for the US. An embargo on rare earth minerals would be one.