, Singapore

Check out IMF's fearless forecasts for Asian economies

The International Monetary Fund expects Singapore to grow by just 2.1%.

IMF in its recent world economic outlook said that Asia is calibrating a soft landing. It expects the region ro rise by 5¾ percent in 2013, downward

revisions of more than ½ percentage point for both years relative to the April 2012 WEO. 

"The main impetus for a moderate pickup in growth from late 2012 will come from recent policy easing in China and elsewhere," it said.

Here's more from IMF:

Growth in Asia has moderated further with weaker external demand and the soft landing of domestic demand in China. The outlook is for a modest pickup in growth on the back of recent policy easing.

Limited  direct financial spillovers and some room for policy easing  should be helpful in minimizing external downside risks. Balancing external and internal risks will be important,  however, given that output gaps are still positive in some  economies in the region while credit growth remains strong and that lower-than-expected potential output  growth and domestic imbalances are still risks.

Growth continued to moderate in much of  Asia during the first half of 2012. Slower growth in import demand in most advanced economies
corresponded with weaker export growth in Asia.

Growth in China slowed further in the second quarter of 2012, as the economy continued to adjust  to the policy tightening undertaken in 2010–11.

The tightening of monetary and credit policies has been partly reversed in 2012, as price pressures have eased and the residential real estate market has cooled. This easing, however, has not yet gained the traction expected earlier in the year. Slowing growth in China has affected activity in the rest of Asia, a  consequence of the deepening of linkages throughout the region in the past decade.

In other parts of Asia, activity was boosted by recovery from natural disasters and reconstruction, notably in Japan and Thailand, but also in Australia and New Zealand.

In Australia, continued  strong mining activity and related investment have also supported growth. In India, growth weakened more than expected in the first half of 2012, an outcome of stalled investment caused by governance issues and red tape, and a deterioration in business sentiment against the backdrop of a rising current account deficit and the recent rupee depreciation.

Compared with the region’s growth performance in recent years, the near- and medium-term outlooks  are less buoyant. This view reflects weaker anticipated  external demand resulting from the tepid growth prospects in major advanced economies and a downshift in China’s and India’s growth prospects, with a return to double-digit growth in China unlikely given the policy objectives laid out in the 12th Five-Year Plan.
 

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