The Week in Numbers: China’s GDP Grows
Non-oil domestic exports (NODX) in Singapore grew for the fifth consecutive month in March, rising 16.5% as compared to a year ago. Exports to all of Singapore’s top 10 markets increased last month, with shipments to China, the largest export destination, ballooning 45.5% year-on-year.
Singapore’s Urban Redevelopment Authority announced this week that the number of new private homes sold by developers surged 81.8% to 1,780 units in March. This was up from 979 units sold in February. Furthermore, the number of units sold last month was more than twice the 843 units sold in March 2016.
S$33.75 million – this is the amount that Changi Airport Group, Singapore Airlines, and Singapore Tourism Board will be investing to promote Singapore as a tourist destination, under a renewed three-year partnership deal. The figure is the highest-ever amount to advertise our country as an attractive stopover and a twinning destination (twinning means travelling to two destinations on one itinerary).
In Malaysia, the inflation rate for March rose to its highest level since November 2008, clocking in at 5.1%. This was on the back of higher fuel costs. Price of petrol at the pump rose 23% year-on-year as the recovery of global crude oil prices bumped up petrol prices.
In the first quarter of 2017, China’s economy, which is the second largest in the world, grew by 6.9% year-on-year, on the back of higher infrastructure spending by the government and a buoyant housing market. The growth in the latest quarter was the fastest since the third quarter of 2015. For the whole of 2017, the Chinese government is looking at a growth rate of around 6.5%.
And finally, a mobile phone number in China was sold for a whopping 120 million yuan! The phone number, 18888888888, is almost entirely made up of the number 8, which is considered a lucky number in Chinese culture. I’m wondering if anyone in Singapore has a mobile phone number that goes 88888888….
