Singapore Economy on the Edge of Recession; Government Blames Lockdown

In the wake of COVID-19, the global economy has taken a hit. Unemployment is widespread, and all the economies are striving to stay afloat, while also trying to curb the spread of the virus. Lockdown with strict measures is being implemented across the world, which has frozen the operations of a lot of organizations.

Amid this global crisis, Singapore is hit by a major economic downfall in the second quarter as a result of Singapore’s slumps into recession. The Q2 FY2020 GDP shrank by as much as 41.2% as per the reports of the Ministry of Trade and Industry, Singapore.

This massive blow in the figures is attributed majorly to the shrinking of the construction sector in Singapore.

The construction sector almost vanished with a decline of 95.6% in the second quarter, while the manufacturing sector was down by 23.1% on-quarter.

In an official statement by the Singapore Government, the government stated that this decline in the economy was due to the Circuit Breaker (CB) measures that were implemented from 7^th April to 1^st June to control the spread of the Covid-19 virus. These measures included the suspension of several non-essential services, which also included the closing down of many workplaces.

While the construction and manufacturing sector have faced a major hit, the service sector too saw a contraction of 37.7% on-quarter. Among the other services, tourism-related services like accommodation, airfare, have been severely affected due to the travel restrictions across the globe.

The economy of Singapore, free, competitive, and innovative in nature was largely dependent on trade. Because of the disruption of the supply chain globally due to the lockdown and other restrictions, the economy has had a major hit.

Even then, there has been a substantial rise in the activities in the third quarter. But, it is not expected to have a positive growth until the first quarter of the next year.

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