MEF on Cyclone Yaku: “No impact on economic activity was felt”

According to the Ministry of Economy and Finance (MEF), Cyclone Yaku caused S$1,300 million worth of infrastructure damage, equivalent to 0.1% of GDP.

This figure is higher than reported a few days ago, when it was estimated that losses in infrastructure amounted to SGD 1,200 million.

Despite this, the head of the MEF, Alex Contreras, notes that the effect on the national economy was very small.

“Impact on economic activity It was not felt or was very small, it was limited at the regional level, because the Ministry of Housing, the Ministry of Transport were able to quickly respond to the emergency,” he said during the meeting.

As a result, 659 km of roads, 351 km of irrigation canals, 216 bridges, 82 water supply networks, 56 school classes, 6 health care institutions were damaged, 1666 houses were destroyed, 2510 uninhabitable houses were destroyed.

Now he IEF Recall that in connection with the warming of the sea on the northern and central coast in March, which will last until July 2023, an El Niño Costero warning with a weak magnitude was announced.

“What we want to avoid is the negative impact on economic activity. When this anomaly starts to cause rains, and these rains cause landslides, they cause infrastructure destruction,” he said.

In this situation, Contreras recalled that earlier The El Niño phenomenon. This has had an impact on key sectors such as fishing, construction and agriculture.