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Singapore will not escape economic impact if Hong Kong unrest persists, trade minister Chan Chun Sing says
- Businesses heavily dependent on the protest-hit city will feel the pinch, Chan warns
- Investor confidence is likely to take a knock which will add to global economic uncertainty, minister says
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Dewey Simin Beijing
Prolonged disruption to Hong Kong’s stability will have a “negative spillover impact” on Singapore and the wider region, the Southeast Asian city state’s trade minister warned on Monday.
Chan Chun Sing said close trade and investment ties between the two cities meant Singapore would likely be impacted by the anti-government protests in Hong Kong.
The southern Chinese city was Singapore’s fifth largest trading partner last year, Chan said, and its fourth largest investment destination at the end of 2017. Trade between the two accounted for an estimated 1.2 per cent of Singapore’s gross domestic product last year, according to the Lion City’s trade ministry.
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Chan said his country’s economy had not yet been significantly affected by the tensions in Hong Kong, but businesses with a “strong dependence” on the city might see a greater impact.
Hong Kong has for the past three months been roiled by increasingly violent anti-government unrest. On Monday defiant university students took to the streets in a class boycott on the first day of the new academic year, piling further pressure on the government to meet their five key demands which protesters have been pushing for over 13 weeks of mass demonstrations.
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