<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR>S'pore, Taiwan 'will be worst-hit Asian economies'
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->HONG KONG: - Singapore and Taiwan will be emerging Asia's most battered economies this year as the global downturn spreads across the continent, while China will just miss its targeted 8 per cent growth rate, a Reuters poll shows.
The poll forecasts gross domestic product in both Singapore and Taiwan will shrink 4.9 per cent this year - Singapore's worst year ever and Taiwan's weakest performance since data was first published in the 1950s - as exports plunge and depress local consumer confidence.
Economists foresee a modest rebound in Asia next year but that assumes the United States economy pulls out of recession late this year, they say.
The outlook across emerging Asia has deteriorated sharply since late last year as weakening consumption in advanced economies - Asia's biggest markets - has slashed demand for Asian goods, sending exports into free fall.
A similar poll three months ago forecast only a 1.1 per cent contraction in Singapore this year while Taiwan was still on course for a 0.7 per cent expansion.
Both export-reliant economies are now in recession and are unlikely to recover until 2010, when the poll estimates Singapore will see a 3.9 per cent increase in gross domestic product and Taiwan's economy will expand by 3.4 per cent.
Mr Sebastien Barbe, an economist at Calyon, is worried about South Korea's economy, which is forecast to shrink 2.5 per cent this year. 'There is a lot of foreign debt, which is a worry for the banking system, and its exports are plunging.'
China's unexpectedly sharp slowdown in the wake of the downturn is hurting economies by depressing exports with Asia.
The poll predicts China will manage only 7.8 per cent growth this year, below its target of 8 per cent, seen as the minimum required to create enough jobs to ward off social tensions. Growth will be the slowest in 10 years although the Chinese economy will see a modest recovery in 2010 when trade flows stabilise.
China's slowdown is helping to depress Hong Kong's economy, which is set to contract 3 per cent this year, its worst year since 1998 at the height of the Asian financial crisis. REUTERS
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<!-- START OF : div id="storytext"--><!-- more than 4 paragraphs -->HONG KONG: - Singapore and Taiwan will be emerging Asia's most battered economies this year as the global downturn spreads across the continent, while China will just miss its targeted 8 per cent growth rate, a Reuters poll shows.
The poll forecasts gross domestic product in both Singapore and Taiwan will shrink 4.9 per cent this year - Singapore's worst year ever and Taiwan's weakest performance since data was first published in the 1950s - as exports plunge and depress local consumer confidence.
Economists foresee a modest rebound in Asia next year but that assumes the United States economy pulls out of recession late this year, they say.
The outlook across emerging Asia has deteriorated sharply since late last year as weakening consumption in advanced economies - Asia's biggest markets - has slashed demand for Asian goods, sending exports into free fall.
A similar poll three months ago forecast only a 1.1 per cent contraction in Singapore this year while Taiwan was still on course for a 0.7 per cent expansion.
Both export-reliant economies are now in recession and are unlikely to recover until 2010, when the poll estimates Singapore will see a 3.9 per cent increase in gross domestic product and Taiwan's economy will expand by 3.4 per cent.
Mr Sebastien Barbe, an economist at Calyon, is worried about South Korea's economy, which is forecast to shrink 2.5 per cent this year. 'There is a lot of foreign debt, which is a worry for the banking system, and its exports are plunging.'
China's unexpectedly sharp slowdown in the wake of the downturn is hurting economies by depressing exports with Asia.
The poll predicts China will manage only 7.8 per cent growth this year, below its target of 8 per cent, seen as the minimum required to create enough jobs to ward off social tensions. Growth will be the slowest in 10 years although the Chinese economy will see a modest recovery in 2010 when trade flows stabilise.
China's slowdown is helping to depress Hong Kong's economy, which is set to contract 3 per cent this year, its worst year since 1998 at the height of the Asian financial crisis. REUTERS
