Highlights:
- Singapore’s GDP growth slows to 2.6% in Q3
- Investsmart Fest 2018 promotes financial empowerment
- A Showcase of Cyberjaya: Stepping Into the Capital of Creation
- Uganda calls on Malaysian businesses to explore its oil and gas sector
- Singapore ophthalmology practice launches mobile app for eye health
Singapore’s GDP growth slows to 2.6% in Q3
Advance estimates from the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) showed the Singapore economy grew 2.6 per cent year-on-year in the third quarter, slowing down from the 4.1 per cent growth in the previous three months. The ministry’s estimate was, however, above those of private sector economists polled in the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s (MAS) recent quarterly survey. The survey of professional forecasters released last month estimated Singapore’s third-quarter gross domestic product (GDP) to be 2.1 per cent. The manufacturing sector remained the key driver of the economy but growth slowed to 4.5 per cent year-on-year in the July to September period, down from the 10.6 per cent growth in the previous quarter. Growth was supported mainly by output expansion in the electronics, biomedical manufacturing and transport engineering clusters. Construction continued to underperform with a contraction of 3.1 per cent year-on-year, extending the previous quarter’s 4.2 per cent decline, on the back of weakness in public sector construction activities. The advance GDP estimates are computed largely from data in the first two months of the quarter – in this case, July and August. They are intended as an early indication of GDP growth in the quarter, and are subject to revision when more comprehensive data become available, said MTI. MTI will release the third-quarter Economic Survey of Singapore in November, which will include performance by sectors, sources of growth, inflation, employment and productivity.
Investsmart Fest 2018 promotes financial empowerment
Equipping Malaysians with basic financial planning knowledge is the aim of the Securities Commission (SC) with InvestSmart Fest 2018 at the Kuala Lumpur Convention Centre. The event is a showcase of products and services offered in the capital markets including shares, unit trusts and private retirement schemes. Members of the public are encouraged to engage with the SC, intermediaries, government agencies and relevant associations to learn more about the investing opportunities. “Many registered financial planners (RFP) are participating in #FinPlan4u, a financial planning service desk where visitors can obtain complimentary assessment of their financial status and learn to better manage their savings and investment,” said Malaysian Financial Planning Council (MFPC) president, Michael Kok Fook On.
A Showcase of Cyberjaya: Stepping Into the Capital of Creation
Cyberjaya 360 Showcase 2018, organised by Cyberview Sdn Bhd, the Tech Hub Enabler, showcases a 360-view of Cyberjaya as a model Smart City with a framework that cuts across all areas crucial to high quality city living: economy, infrastructure, social and environment. It also showcases Cyberjaya’s offerings as a collaborative innovation ecosystem designed to empower and support enterprises at every stage of maturity. The showcase will be held from 17 to 20 October 2018 at NU Sentral, Kuala Lumpur. Exhibition-goers can look forward to experiencing interactive booths which include visual demonstrations of Cyberjaya’s Smart City and Living Labs projects, interactions with the latest drone and urban technologies, mascot appearance, animation clip screenings, merchandise sales among others. More than 20 years since its inception, Cyberjaya as a model smart city and an emerging global technology hub continues to be a critical contributor to the digital economy through the development and growth of innovations. With early technology adopters making up 20 per cent of Cyberjaya’s total population, it houses approximately 40,000 knowledge workers and 50 multinational corporations, that brought in RM13.24 billion in revenue last year.
Uganda calls on Malaysian businesses to explore its oil and gas sector
Uganda, has called on Malaysian businesses to participate in oil and gas (O&G) exploration activities in the country, which is rich with crude oil and looking to setting up new O&G infrastructures by 2020. Uganda’s High Commissioner to Malaysia, Dorothy Samali Hyuha, said the country is currently constructing a 1,445 km pipeline, also known as the East African Crude Oil Pipeline, connecting the town of Hoima in Uganda to Tanzania’s Port of Tanga on the Indian Ocean to facilitate easier export of its oil. She said Malaysia and Uganda were already cooperating in many areas and besides O &G, there was potential in many other areas as well, such as construction, information communication technology (ICT), telecommunications and value added agriculture products. “Our bilateral relations are growing from strength to strength. We have cooperation in many areas and oil and gas is another area to explore,” she told Bernama. According to reports, Uganda discovered oil deposits worth 2.5 billion barrels in the Albertine Rift Basin in 2006 and since then the country has discovered more oil deposits with the updated estimates of oil reserves now standing at about 6.5 billion barrels. The Albertine Graben area is still under oil exploration and is said to have great potential for more discoveries. Uganda also has 500 billion Standard cubic feet (BCF) of natural gas reserves in its Albertine Graben region.
Singapore ophthalmology practice launches mobile app for eye health
Asia Retina Eye Surgery Centre, one of the leading ophthalmology practices in Singapore, has launched a mobile app aimed at improving eye health education in Singapore by allowing the public to easily test the health of their eyes. This is the first-of-its-kind in Singapore and is built through the expertise of Asia Retina founder, Dr. Claudine Pang. Dr. Pang developed this mobile app to help improve consumer education in eye health and to provide an easy way in which the public can access trusted eye health information and home tests. The Asia Retina mobile app is free to download and use, and provides the public easy access to clinically proven eye exams. These include tests for visual acuity, colour blindness, macular grid test, and a dry eye quiz.
