Asia and South Pacific October 2004

• Australia’s jobless rate rose to 5.7 percent in July, an increase of 0.1 percent from June’s rate and a 0.5 percent decrease from July 2003.
  
  
• Preliminary GDP figures for Hong Kong show a 2.6-percent increase at constant 2000 prices on the previous quarter and an 8.9-percent increase compared to the same quarter in 2003, not seasonally adjusted. Real private consumption expenditure surged by 11.0 percent in Q2 compared to the same period in 2003. Real total exports — re-exports and domestic exports — grew a robust 18.7 percent, while real imports increased by 20.3 percent.
  
  
• Hong Kong’s unemployment rate for July, which had fallen 1.7 percentage points since July 2003, stayed at 6.9 percent.
  
  
• Japan’s preliminary Q2 GDP figures, at constant 1995 prices, posted a 0.4-percent rise compared to the previous quarter, but a 0.6-percent decline (not seasonally adjusted) when compared to the same period a year ago.
  
  
• The July jobless rate for Japan rose to 4.9 percent, a 0.3-percent gain from June but a decrease of 0.4 percent from a year ago.
  
  
• Singapore’s non-seasonally adjusted GDP for Q2 increased by five percent compared to Q1 and by 12.5 percent compared to Q2 2003. “Stronger growth of external demand contributed to the pickup,” said the Singapore Ministry of Trade and Industry. “During the quarter, growth of external demand rose to 26.3 percent, up from 15.2 percent a quarter earlier. During the three month period, exports of both goods and services rose significantly. The latter largely reflected the impact of increased visitor arrivals on receipts from ravel and transportation services.”
  
  
• Singapore’s unemployment stayed unchanged at 4.5 percent or the third straight quarter.
  
  
• The negative effects of climbing oil prices are less of a concern now but still require close monitoring, said Hiroshi Watanabe, Japan’s Vice Finance Minister for International Affairs, in late August. Watanabe said he expects Japan’s economy to grow 4 percent for the fiscal year ending in March 2005, a forecast .5 percent higher than the government’s projection.
  
  
• Japan’s July trade surplus rose 44.2 percent from a year ago, according to the Finance Ministry. Sales of flat panel TVs, steel, cars and digital cameras helped boost exports 14.3 percent compared to the previous year, but exports declined for the second straight month.
  
  
• China posted a $2 billion trade surplus for the third straight month in July. Exports grew 34 percent over the same month in 2003, as more foreign firms have moved production to the Asian country because of its low wages. Increased consumption of raw materials, machinery and other components have driven a rise in imports. However, the growth rates have slowed down compared to the first half of 2004, where exports rose 46.4 percent and imports by 51 percent.
  
  
• Conditions are not yet optimal for the central bank to consider ways to ease of out of its super-loose monetary policy, said Toshihiko Fukui, governor of the Bank of Japan. “Even if we need to change our policy in the future, what is different from the United States is that Japan needs to consider monetary policy from both sides of reducing ample liquidity and the issue of interest rates,” he said in a press conference.