Is the next financial crisis looming?

“A resumption of construction work for the East Coast Rail Link, Light Rail Transit 3 and other mega projects should pull productivity growth back up, starting from the third quarter this year,’’ said Pong Teng Siew, head of research, Inter-Pacific Securities.

The increasing pace of US rate hikes and fears of a global slowdown are fuelling growing concerns over the next financial crisis.

This time, the trajectory suggests a crisis similar to the emerging market (EM) crisis of 1997/98, which centered on Asian EMs. Debt-fuelled economies are most at risk, especially those with high corporate debt denominated in US dollars while rising household debt can be another stranglehold. Global debt has hit US$240bil, an increase of 43% from 10 years ago.