The Business Times
business-time-50

Record-breaking El Nino could hurt South-east Asia’s growth

google-preferred-sourceAdd BT as a preferred source
    • The reduced rainfall linked to El Nino means a higher risk of wildfires and hazardous haze.
    • The reduced rainfall linked to El Nino means a higher risk of wildfires and hazardous haze. PHOTO: AFP

    Yanbin Xu, Benjamin P. Horton, Wenjun Zhu

    Published Fri, Sep 22, 2023 · 05:00 AM

    AMID human-induced climate change, July 2023 broke records as the hottest month ever documented. The World Meteorological Organization declared on Jul 4 that the world has entered an El Nino cycle, with the Meteorological Service Singapore confirming this on Aug 11.

    El Nino is a natural climate pattern that features abnormal warming of the ocean’s surface in the central and eastern equatorial Pacific Ocean. It has significant effects on global weather; in South-east Asia, it often causes increased temperatures, prolonged droughts, and other problems.

    Over the past 30 years, the collective economic impact of natural and human-induced climate change on South-east Asian nations is as high as S$295 billion, according to research by a team at Nanyang Technological University (NTU).

    El NinoClimate change

    TRENDING NOW

    Traffic through the strait has been resuming but with interruptions, and there is still little clarity over a permanent solution for passages through the chokepoint.

    Qatari LNG ship struck in Strait of Hormuz, testing US talks

    This comes after a Citi note on Tuesday that lifted target prices for all Singapore banks, with a leading preference and “buy” call for DBS.

    DBS, OCBC and UOB shares hit all-time highs as sentiment improves

    Aster deputy CEO Andre Khor, citing the age of the “polycrisis”, says: “It’s very important to be agile, to be focused on execution… We don’t know all the answers but we keep going forward.”

    ‘Baptism of fire’: Andre Khor on leading Singapore refiner Aster through an energy crisis

    Singapore is ranked as the world’s most expensive city for cars and placed third globally for residential property, according to Julius Baer.

    Singapore retains top spot as most expensive city for HNWIs, with five Apac cities in global top 10

    Latest T-bills Treasury Bills Results & Interest NewsLatest SSB Singapore Savings Bonds NewsLatest COE Certificate of Entitlement News
    Latest Johor-Singapore SEZ NewsLatest BTO Build To Order & Sales of Balance NewsLatest STI Straits Times Index NewsLatest SGX Dividends, Share Price NewsLatest Bonds Market NewsLatest Singapore Stocks To Buy NewsLatest Singapore Economy News
    View More