Wednesday, May 13, 2009

STI: Er, what are green shoots?

May 10, 2009

FINANCIAL QUOTIENT

Er, what are green shoots?

 

Where do you see this?

 

Not outside on your lawn, but in news stories about the world economy.

We're talking about the 'green shoots' of economic revival that Mr Ben Bernanke, the chairman of the United States Federal Reserve, first referred to. It's since been quoted and repeated by government leaders and economists.

 

What does it mean?

 

What it means is that there are signs that the global economy is starting to recover.

 

The main thing has been that the US consumer seems to be ready to spend money again, which means people are returning to shopping malls and buying the handbags or new shoes that they previously held back on.

 

There are other 'green shoots' as well, like Chinese manufacturing activity picking up, and some banks in the US beginning to return to profit.

 

Why is it important?

 

The more 'green shoots', the more indications there are that the global economy is turning around and on its way to a recovery. That is good news for trade-dependent Singapore, as it needs to start exporting to world markets again to recover.

 

So you want to use the term. Just say...

 

'I'm going ahead to book my new car. Everyone's talking about green shoots anyway.'

 

Robin Chan

No comments:

Post a Comment