Technical recession or not, underlying factors matter more

SINGAPORE'S narrow escape from recession in the third quarter may be good news for consumer sentiment, but it is arguably more productive to focus on specific aspects of the economy, rather than the narrow binary of whether a technical recession is upon us - which, at any rate, could be overturned by updated figures.

Flash figures on Monday put third quarter year-on-year growth virtually flat at 0.1 per cent, the…