Covid-19 resilience budget

Market watchers are looking at a 7.6% y-o-y contraction in the GDP for 3Q2020

market watchers are looking at a 7.6% y-o-y contraction in the GDP for 3Q2020

On Aug 17, the government announced another $8 billion package to battle the bug, as cracks in Singapore’s economy deteriorate.

“The government’s financial support will not be sufficient to [cover] revenue lost by companies [but] we hope they are enough for companies to tide over this period, without having to lay off their staff,” says SBF CEO Ho Meng Kit.

This second supplementary budget, announced less than a fortnight after the massive $48.4 billion “shock and awe” budget on March 26, was deemed necessary because of how rapidly the Covid-19 outbreak was evolving.

With business optimism sinking to all-time low levels, and landlords being pushed to pass on their full tax rebates to their tenants, here's what's going on in the market this week.

In a one-two punch, Singapore’s central bank last week announced it was easing its exchange-rate based monetary policy.

“GDP growth will eventually recover following the abrupt downshift in the level of activity, but there is significant uncertainty over the depth and duration of this recession,” says MAS.

From Singapore's $48 billion Resilience Budget to a potential monetary easing, here are a few key economic events that took place this week.

Unfortunately, the package — while helpful — will not be enough to stave off a recession, says Maybank Kim Eng’s senior economist Chua Hak Bin.