Global Financial Crisis: Impact on Singapore and ASEAN

Despite creating a record of number of jobs in 2007 and 2008 (237,000 jobs in 2007 and 202,400 jobs in the first three quarters of 2008) and averaging a growth rate of nearly 10 percent from 2004 to 2007, Singapore was the first East Asian country to fall into a recession from the current global economic crisis in July 2008. It was projected that the Singapore economy will grow by -1.0 to 2 percent in 2009. This paper examines the current state of the Singapore economy and highlights several policy considerations as the City-State adjusts to the current global economic crisis. The paper also discusses the role of ASEAN in the current global economic crisis. The paper highlights that the ability of Singapore to ride the current global crisis will depend critically in reducing the cost of the downturn by increasing the productivity of local workers and firms, and concurrently enhancing the economic integration opportunities in ASEAN.