Standard Chartered Bank hosted a virtual Global Research Brief for H1 2022 for their corporate clients and stakeholders yesterday.
Senior economists from the bank’s global network shared their outlook and insights on the year ahead.
Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Brunei Pengiran Aki Ismasufian bin Pengiran Haji Ibrahim said, “The theme this year is ‘Still battling headwinds’, which reflects how the world is still battling with the pandemic, with new variants like the Omicron still posing uncertainties.
Economic recovery has been intermittent and global growth remains uneven.
“As economies build back, we believe global trade will increase by 70 per cent over the next decade to reach almost USD30 trillion by 2030.
“This is the headline from our Future of Trade 203’ report, which is based on an analysis of historical trade data and trade projections, and a survey of more than 500 C-level and senior leaders globally.”
He also said, “The report highlighted new corridor opportunities accelerated by trade growth of ASEAN markets such as Singapore, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia.
“It also found that 89 per cent of business leaders recognise the need to implement sustainable trade practices in response to rising climate concerns and conscious consumerism.
“To support our clients’ sustainability agenda and net zero transition, we’ve launched a Sustainable Trade framework, encompassing solutions for sustainable goods, services, suppliers and industries last year and jointly set up Climate Impact X.
“The global exchange and marketplace completed a pilot auction of a portfolio of high-quality carbon credits in November, and we can expect it to launch regular auctions this year.”
The Acting Managing Director of Brunei Darussalam Central Bank (BDCB) Hajah Rashidah binti Haji Sabtu said, “Although inflation has been on an upward trajectory since the height of the pandemic in Brunei Darussalam, it rose to an average of 1.7 per cent over the first 10 months of 2021 – underscoring a manageable inflation environment, at present.
“Looking ahead, with the early endemic phase which commenced on December, domestic economic activities are expected to pick up.
“This is reflected with the recent findings from Business Sentiment index or BSI, published by BDCB, signalling confidence among private sector businesses, in general.
“It is hoped that business conditions will return to some level of normalcy over the near-term on the back of further de-escalation of Covid-19 measures and the population’s high vaccination rate.”
During the webinar, Standard Chartered Chief Economist for ASEAN and South Asia Edward Lee and Head of ASA FX Research Divya Devesh shared the global outlook for the first half of year 2022, focussing on how the global economy continues to recover amid the challenges from the pandemic.
