Quoteworthy: "In today’s world of social media, fear, uncertainty and panic spread a lot faster on social media than the truth, which is boring and nobody wants to share." — Minister Lawrence Wong, co-chair of the Multi-Ministry Taskforce on Covid-19, on the need for accurate information to combat coronavirus fears
Singapore visitor arrivals to drop by up to 30% in 2020
The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) has warned that the city state’s tourist arrivals and receipts for 2020 will take a significant hit as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.
As at Feb 13, the number of confirmed cases of the coronavirus in Singapore has reached 58 – the highest outside of mainland China. Already, a number of countries have advised their citizens to avoid unnecessary travel to Singapore.
Visitor arrivals are estimated to drop by 25% to 30% this year, STB said in a media conference on Feb 11.
“We believe that the situation this year will be comparable to the situation we faced in 2003 during SARS – and quite possibly worse,” said Keith Tan, chief executive of STB. “At this point, we estimate that every day, we lose an average of 18,000 to 20,000 international visitor arrivals to Singapore.”
Despite the dim outlook, STB is remaining positive and aiming for a strong recovery on the back of four years of consecutive growth.
The government is also in the process of forming a public-private sector Tourism Recovery Action Task Force (TRAC) to lay out plans of recovery and future growth for the overall tourism sector.
“Unlike SARS, we are now better prepared and more resilient [to face the coronavirus challenge]. Our destination remains attractive, we have a strong pipeline of tourism products, and our market portfolio is diverse,” said Tan. — By Samantha Chiew
Business leaders urge Singaporeans to keep calm and stay vigilant
Amid a wave of panic buying at supermarkets across the country, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) has called on Singaporeans to keep calm and stay vigilant.
This comes after the Ministry of Health (MOH) raised the Disease Outbreak Response System Condition (DORSCON) alert level to Orange on Feb 7.
“We are monitoring the situation closely and retailers such as NTUC, Cold Storage and Sheng Siong have assured the public that there are sufficient stocks,” said Teo Siong Seng, chairman of SBF, in a statement on Feb 10. “They are working swiftly to restock their stores while working with partners to ensure continued supply.”
SBF noted that various retailers, e-commerce sites and household brands have put out statements to indicate that there are sufficient supplies within their warehouses.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing have also assured that there is no risk of Singapore running a shortage of essential household items.
The business chamber urged Singapore consumers to buy only what they need, as a sudden surge in demand increases pressure on supply chains and may add to distribution costs.
It also reminded merchants and retailers not to take advantage of the increased demand to raise prices.
“In a time like this, we should look out for and help one another. Together, we can overcome this obstacle,” said Teo. — By Jeffrey Tan
SGX RegCo to use AI to spot unusual trading activity
It will soon be more difficult to pull the wool over the eyes of market regulators in Singapore. Singapore Exchange Regulation (SGX RegCo) announced on Feb 12 that it is adding artificial intelligence (AI) enhancements to its real-time monitoring system to make its surveillance and regulation of the securities market more targeted and effective.
By learning from historical trading patterns and filtering out noise caused by developments across intricate relationships between multiple markets, SGX RegCo believes AI can help to better isolate unusual activity.
This allows regulatory attention to be more sharply focused on a smaller set of potentially unusual trading signals identified through the surveillance system, which are then further analysed and reviewed by the surveillance team.
The AI can also segregate instances where prices of certain counters are artificially maintained even as other securities and the broad markets move significantly.
SGX RegCo said this will eliminate false negatives in its surveillance reports, thereby reducing market noise and increasing the value of its trading queries and alerts.
“SGX RegCo’s focus on targeted regulation extends beyond the way we deploy our established regulatory tools to the development of technology to enhance our surveillance activities,” said Tan Boon Gin, CEO of SGX RegCo.
“The successful use of AI to generate higher-quality alerts affirms that investing in new technology can result in increased efficiencies and better outcomes for investors and the market,” he added. — By Stanislaus Jude Chan
Kuala Lumpur-Singapore HSR to be revived in ‘short term’: Fitch Solutions
The Kuala Lumpur-Singapore high speed rail (HSR) project might be revived in the short term, according to Fitch Solutions Marco Research in a Feb 12 note.
The HSR was suspended following a change in the Malaysian government nearly two years ago.
But Fitch Solutions believes the project will not face outright cancellation, as the business case for the rail remains strong.
For one, point-to-point air travel between Singapore and Kuala Lumpur – one of the busiest air routes in the world – takes four hours in total. The 350km-long HSR can cut travel time by 90 minutes.
“With increased accessibility, the local economies of Batu Pahat, Muar and other locations along the proposed alignment are also likely to benefit from the project,” said Fitch Solutions.
In addition, the project – if and when it is revived – has scope for a reduction in overall cost, as bidders from both China and Japan are believed to still be keen to win the project.
“The revival of the East Coast Railway Link (ECRL) proves that the Malaysian government is willing to bring back big-ticket infrastructure projects if they are satisfied with the reduced cost,” Fitch Solutions said.
The ECRL, one of a string of major infrastructural projects initiated by then Malaysian prime minister Najib Razak, saw its price tag revised to RM44 billion ($14.7 billion), down from RM65.5 billion cited before the ruling Barisan Nasional party was voted out.
“That said, failure to reduce project cost to a level more palatable to the Malaysian government is a significant downside risk to revival of the project,” Fitch added. — By Chan Chao Peh
