Singapore is looking headed for its first full-year recession in about two decades due to impact of the COVID-19 pandemic (Source: The Star) Hanoi (VNA) – The Singaporean Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on March 26 admitted that the country’s economy is looking headed for its first full-year recession in about two decades as the COVID-19 pandemic is causing negative impact on the global scale.
Based on advance estimates, the MTI predicted the economy to contract by 2.2 percent year-on-year in the first quarter of 2020, worse than the 0.8 percent projection of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) earlier this month.
The MTI also downgraded its 2020 growth forecast to a range of -4.0 to -1.0 percent this year, from an earlier estimate of -0.5 percent to 1.5 percent. The last time Singapore registered a full-year contraction of its economy was in 2001 when growth fell by 1 percent.
The adjustment is due to tighter border controls and social distancing applied to curb the spread of the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2 affecting domestic consumption and external demand for Singapore’s goods and services.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat is set to announce a supplementary budget in parliament on the day and detail additional support measures to help workers, businesses and households cope. This will be on top of a 4 billion SGD package rolled out last month./.
VNA
