Coronavirus: Singapore braces for economic hit with ‘strong’ spending package

The city state is already expecting its economy to be hit harder by the coronavirus outbreak than the Sars pandemic of 2003

It has forecast as much as a 30 per cent decline in tourist arrivals this year, and a commensurate loss in spending

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People wearing protective masks stand in line for a temperature check outside an office building in Singapore. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 1:32pm, 12 Feb 2020Updated: 2:58pm, 25 Feb 2020

Singapore will roll out a “strong” economic package next week as part of its national budget to mitigate the economic fallout from coronavirus in the trade-reliant city state.

“We know there is economic impact. Already the specific sectors are feeling it – tourism, hospitality – but beyond these specific sectors, we think the broader knock on impact can be quite severe as well,” Lawrence Wong, Minister for National Development who co-chairs the multi-ministry task force set up to coordinate Singapore’s response to the virus, said in a Bloomberg TV interview.

Singapore’s National Development Minister Lawrence Wong. Photo: AFP

Wong declined to reveal the size of the package or whether it will be bigger than the S$230 million (US$166 million) Sars relief package rolled out during the 2003 pandemic, which also battered the city state’s economy at the time. The Sars relief package contained property tax rebates and a bridging loan programme for small and medium-sized firms to help them with short-term cash-flow problems.

Wong said supply chains are already being disrupted, and the hit to China’s economy will have an impact on the global economy. Singapore will “surely be impacted” in such a scenario, he said.

“We are preparing for a strong package in the coming budget to help our companies as well as to help workers stay in their jobs,” Wong said. Singapore is set to announce its budget February 18.

Coronavirus: Singapore braces for economic hit with ‘strong’ spending package

The city state is already expecting its economy to be hit harder by the coronavirus outbreak than the Sars pandemic of 2003 It has forecast as much as a 30 per cent decline in tourist arrivals this year, and a commensurate loss in spending

The city state is already expecting its economy to be hit harder by the coronavirus outbreak than the Sars pandemic of 2003

It has forecast as much as a 30 per cent decline in tourist arrivals this year, and a commensurate loss in spending