Coronavirus darkens Asia’s economic outlooks: JCER survey

Negative growth forecast for Singapore and Thailand as unemployment escalates

Tien Sa port in Da Nang, Vietnam. Economists who took part in a JCER survey were dour about how the pandemic will influence supply chains and global trade. © Reuters

KIYOSHI KUSAKA, principal economist, Japan Center for Economic Research

April 6, 2020 20:49 JST

The outlooks for Asian economies have greatly deteriorated due to the impact from the corona shock. With the ongoing spread of the novel coronavirus, Asian economists have drastically lowered their growth projections. Some forecasts see negative growth rates for 2020 in Singapore and Thailand. Indonesia, the Philippines and India face the end of rapid growth of about 5% or more in the past several years. Further downward revisions are expected if the virus is not contained.