Hanoi  - Vietnam has attracted foreign direct investment pledges of 5.3 billion dollars so far this year, down 30 per cent from the same period last year, a government official said Thursday.

Le Hai Van, deputy head of the Statistics and Policy Division of Vietnam's Foreign Investment Agency, said that amid the current global economic downturn, the figure was an encouraging sign despite its drop.

"This reflects that foreign investors are still optimistic about the development potential of our economy," Van said.

Too early for an impact, saysIndia Inc.

Singapore  - The Singapore economy grew by 1.1 per cent in 2008, compared with 7.8 per cent a year earlier, the Ministry of Trade said Tuesday.

However, the city-state's gross domestic product (GDP) fell by 4.2 per cent on a year-on-year basis in the fourth quarter after posting flat growth in the third quarter.

On an annualized, seasonally adjusted basis, GDP slumped by 16.4 per cent from October to December last year, following a 2.1-per-cent contraction in the previous quarter, the ministry said.

Berlin  - A sharp slump in German exports in the final three months of last year helped to send Europe's biggest economy deep into recession, data released Wednesday showed.

Exports tumbled by 7.3 per cent quarter on quarter in the last three months of the year with company investment in plant and machinery falling by 4.9 per cent, the nation's statistics office said. Consumption slipped by 0.1 per cent.

Announcing the figures, the statistics office confirmed German economic growth contracted by 2.1 per cent in the fourth quarter.

Singapore  - Singapore is likely to experience its worst ever recession and may lose 99,000 jobs by mid-2010, a DBS Bank report said Wednesday.

"Policy measures that have been put forth so far will help to cushion the blows but the worst of the labour market cycle is yet to come," the DBS researchers warned.

On account of the sharp collapse in global demand and export sales, Singapore's economy is likely to experience its worst ever growth rate this year with a GDP contraction of 4.8 per cent.

Hong Kong  - Hong Kong's Financial Secretary Wednesday announced plans to accelerate public works and create 62,000 new jobs over the next three years to tackle the severe economic slump.

In his annual budget speech, John Tsang warned that the former British colony's economy would shrink by between 2 and 3 per cent in 2009, its first contraction since the Asian economic crisis of 1998.