More workers are losing jobs. Consumers are not spending, particularly on big-ticket items. Exports, which were supposed to go up as currencies went down, haven't met expectations. The reversals might seem especially galling to officials in Singapore, which has long been a paragon of fiscal and monetary virtue. Given the local currency's devaluation last year, exports are little changed in U.S. dollars, while falling imports demonstrate weak domestic demand.
Some private economists think that is too optimistic.
He thinks interest rates will remain high, the currency weak and the economy vulnerable to weakness among neighbors, especially Indonesia. The last point springs from Singapore's reliance on trade. And the bad news keeps coming. Haze may be returning to deliver a blow to tourism. And the island's close links with ailing Malaysia spook the stock market on a daily basis.