Small and medium enterprises (SMEs) remain positive about Singapore's economic outlook this year. But sentiment has turned somewhat cautious, according to the latest survey by banking giant HSBC on Small Business Confidence in Asia Pacific. Compared to 2007, SMEs will be taking on a more conservative approach this year as the economy is expected to moderate amid a likely slowdown in the US. HSBC is...
Singapore Economy
Citigroup has revised down Singapore's economic growth forecast this year to 5.6 percent from 6.2 percent, amid market uncertainty. However, the lender said it is confident about strong growth in emerging Asian markets for 2008. Citigroup is also predicting that equities will be the asset class of choice. With the volatile market, Citigroup is also advising investors to keep a close eye on telecom, banks...
Singapore will announce its national budget for the fiscal year of 2008 on 15 February, in a parliamentary seating. Analysts say they expect the government to announce measures to help Singaporeans cope with inflation and the higher cost of living. In December 2007, consumer prices rose 4.4 percent over the previous year, touching a 25-year high in the Republic's history. For the whole year, the...
Singapore's economy should be on track with the government's growth forecast of 4.5 percent, says Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong. Even with the current stock market volatility and credit crisis in the US, Mr Goh says Singapore's real economy should grow for 2008. SM Goh is also MP for Marine Parade GRC. The needy residents at Marine Parade got an early Lunar New Year surprise on Sunday as the Senior...
Output, property results show weak global demand MANUFACTURING and property data released yesterday provided further indication that weak global demand is hurting the Singapore economy. While economists say they are cautiously optimistic, expecting the economy to continue to expand, some big research houses have started to scale down their economic forecasts for this year. “The...
Singapore is sticking to its economic growth forecast of 4.5-6.5 per cent for 2008 despite a likely recession in the United States, the city-state's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was quoted as saying by local media.Channel NewsAsia quoted Mr Lee as saying on Wednesday that the government will not review its economic outlook in a 'knee-jerk' reaction to market volatility.He said the Singapore economy had...
Singapore's Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew said he is not certain what impact a possible US recession will have on Singapore. Although it is not clear whether financial markets will take up to two years to recover from the ordeal, Mr Lee said he feels that China and India may provide some cushion for the slowdown in the US. Asian stock markets took a beating early this week amid mounting concerns of a...
Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said Singapore and Asia can weather the storm, should the US go into a recession. He made the comment at a breakfast meeting with 40 businessmen from the French Business Confederation as he wrapped up his three-day official visit to Paris. The financial markets in the West have been hit by the US sub-prime problems, and that in turn has affected Asia, including...
Singapore’s inflation might have hit a fresh 25-year high last month as imported food and energy costs soared. A Dow Jones Newswires poll of economists forecast the consumer price index to have risen 4.3 per cent from a year earlier in December, after increasing by 4.2 per cent in the previous month. November’s price rise was the fastest since 1982. Forecasts for the data, due at 1pm today, ranged...
Asian economies face a challenging year in 2008 but as a group they are still expected to show growth of 10 to 12 percent. This is the forecast from HSBC in its latest report on the region. However, a recession in the US could knock off a few percentage points off Singapore's economic growth. With a US recession on the horizon and the US sub-prime mortgage crisis still taking its toll, HSBC is...