Standard Chartered Bank hosted a virtual Global Research Brief for H1 2022 yesterday for their corporate clients and stakeholders where senior economists from its global network shared their outlook and insights on the year ahead.
Chief Executive Officer of Standard Chartered Brunei Pengiran Aki Ismasufian Pengiran Haji Ibrahim in welcoming remark at the webinar said that the theme this year is “Still battling headwinds”, reflecting 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, said the ceo, adding that as economies build back, the institution believes global trade will increase by 70% over the next decade to reach almost USD30 trillion by 2030.
“This is the headline from our ‘Future of Trade 2030’ 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,” said Pengiran Aki.
He also said that 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% 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,” concluded the ceo.
For her part, Acting Managing Director of Bank Central Brunei Darussalam Hajah Rashidah Haji Sabtu in her keynote address 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% over the first ten months of 2021 – underscoring a manageable inflation environment, at present.
“Looking ahead, with the early endemic phase which commenced on 15 December 2021, 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,” she said.
She further said that 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, the speakers, Edward Lee, Chief Economist, ASEAN and South Asia, Standard Chartered and Divya Devesh, Head of ASA FX Research, Standard Chartered 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 both globally and regionally.
This year’s Global Research Briefing theme is “Still Battling Headwinds” and the Brief follows the publication of Standard Chartered’s Global Focus publication. For more information on Standard Chartered’s Corporate and Institutional Banking approach, please visit www.sc.com/bn or call our Client Care Centre at 2658000.
THE BRUNEIAN | BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN
