A worker inspects newly-made gloves at Top Glove factory in Shah Alam, Malaysia August 26, 2020. REUTERS/Lim Huey Teng/File Photo
BANGKOK/KUALA LUMPUR, Aug 4 (Reuters) – Fresh outbreaks of the Delta coronavirus variant in Southeast Asia have crippled its factory sector, disrupting global supplies of goods such as rubber gloves, semiconductors and SUVs and threatening the $3 trillion region’s recovery.
A series of factory surveys this week showed business activity across most Southeast Asian economies fell sharply in July, a contrast to more resilient manufacturing economies in Northeast Asia and the West, where business growth has slowed but remained in expansion. read more
The economic disruptions in Southeast Asia caused by the virus have been made worse by slow progress in vaccinations in the region of 600 million people. Governments have struggled to secure doses and have imposed…
