Quoteworthy: "It might seem now that we’re jumping from a hot pandemic, to a hot war, hot prices and a hotter planet." — Alvin Tan, minister of state for Culture, Community and Youth, and Trade and Industry, at Maybank Invest Asean 2022 on June 8
Singapore’s GDP expected to grow 3.8% in 2022
Singapore’s GDP is tipped to expand by 3.8% in 2022 and by 3.0% in 2023, according to market watchers in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) June survey of professional forecasters.
The 2022 estimate is down 0.2 percentage points from the 4.0% previously estimated in March, but still within the 3.0% to 5.0% range estimated by the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI). The 2023 estimate remains unchanged.
According to the 24 economists and analysts who responded to the survey, the Singapore economy is most likely to grow by 3.0% to 3.9% in 2022, with an average probability of 43.6%.
In the previous survey, respondents assigned the highest probability to growth outturns between 3.0% and 4.9%, encompassing two ranges.
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On May 25, the MTI announced that the Singapore economy grew by 3.7% y-o-y in the 1Q2022, moderating from the 6.1% expansion in the previous quarter. The growth stood in line with the respondents’ median forecast in the previous survey.
In the current survey, respondents say they expect the economy to grow by 4.8% in 2Q2022.
On a sectoral basis, the market watchers are anticipating broad-based expansions across all the sectors, including Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports at +6.3%, albeit down from the 7.8% estimated in the previous survey.
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Meanwhile, CPI-All Items inflation and MAS core inflation in the 2Q2022 are expected to come in at a respective 5.4% and 3.5% in the 2Q2022. For the full year, the median CPIAll Items inflation is forecast to come in at 5.0%, up from the 3.6% pencilled in the March survey. MAS core inflation is expected to come around 3.4% for the full year, up from the previous estimate of 2.0%. — Felicia Tan
Grab taps into US$1bil mapping and location-based services market with GrabMaps
Superapp Grab has launched GrabMaps, a new enterprise service which allows businesses to leverage its location-based intelligence and technology.
With the launch, Grab is able to tap into the US$1 billion ($1.37 billion) market opportunity in Southeast Asia per year for mapping and location-based services — although it does not have any specific revenue goals currently, according to Grab head of Geo Philipp Kandal.
Grab expects to be fully self-sufficient with GrabMaps by 3Q2022. While it will no longer be dependent on paid mapping and location-based services from third party providers, it will continue to use OpenStreetMap as its base layer map via an Open Database Licence.
First developed for in-house use, GrabMaps was created to address its need for a more hyperlocal solution to power its services. “The back alleys and narrow side streets common across Southeast Asia cities often don’t show up on conventional maps, but are navigated by our driver and delivery partners every day,” says Grab co-founder Tan Hooi Ling.
“We’ve invested in turning this intelligence into a competitive advantage, allowing us to serve our users and partners with a great experience, at the same time driving efficiency and cost-savings for the business,” she adds.
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GrabMaps is built by leveraging its consumers, merchants as well as fleet of driver and delivery partners. Its solutions draw from fresh data from millions of orders and rides served daily, with real-time feedback from partners on road closures and business address changes, among others.
As a business-to-business (B2B) solution, GrabMaps offers base map data as a service, allowing enterprises to license its data such as places, roads and imagery. It also offers map making — an end-to-end stack that enterprises can leverage to build their own maps, made possible with its proprietary map-making camera, Kartacam. — Khairani Afifi
Singapore unveils Green Bond Framework, to issue first sovereign green bond this year
The Singapore government has published the Singapore Green Bond Framework, first announced at Budget 2022 in February. This sets the stage for the country’s first sovereign green bond to be issued in the coming months.
To qualify, projects must first be classified “nationally significant” under the Significant Infrastructure Government Loan Act, or Singa, says Indranee Rajah, minister in the prime minister’s office and second minister for finance and national development.
Green bond issuances must then meet the criteria stated in the new framework.
“Through these high-quality issuances, we hope to deepen market liquidity for green bonds, attract green issuers, capital and investors, and catalyse sustainable financing in the region,” Indranee said at the keynote address of the Singapore Sustainable Investing and Financing Conference 2022 on June 9.
Indranee added that these green projects will help to facilitate Singapore’s transition to a low-carbon economy. Some current investments include the upcoming Jurong Region Line and the Cross Island Line, which will expand the rail network and enhance connectivity, encouraging greener mobility.
“This is a key enabler that will help us achieve the ambitious goal of reducing land transport emissions by 80% by around mid-century from its peak in 2016,” she said.
In a joint release on June 9, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) say proceeds from green bonds issued under the framework will be used to finance projects in support of the Singapore Green Plan 2030. These include projects in renewable energy, energy efficiency, green buildings, clean transportation, sustainable water and wastewater management, pollution prevention, climate change adaptation, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable management of natural resources and land use.
The framework is developed and structured in line with the core components and key recommendations of the International Capital Market Association (ICMA) Green Bond Principles 2021 and the Asean Capital Markets Forum Asean Green Bond Standards 2018.
The second minister for finance will chair the framework’s Green Bond Steering Committee, which is responsible for “proper governance and implementation of the framework”, reads the release.
The MOF intends to report on the allocation and impact of proceeds on its website on an annual basis until full allocation. Allocation reporting may include a breakdown of proceeds according to project category and the balance of unallocated proceeds. — Jovi Ho
