Source : The Business Times, June 9, 2008
But there will be discomfort on the ground, he says
DESPITE the growing prices of food and oil around the world, Singapore is not heading for a economic recession, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said yesterday.
According to Channel NewsAsia reports, Mr Tharman said at a community event that from all indications at this point, he did not think Singapore was heading for an economic recession.
But he admitted that there would be discomfort on the ground.
'But overall, we are in a situation which isn't temporary. This will be with us for a while,' he said, adding that 'commodity prices are much higher than what they used to be. But we are tackling it, and we are confident of tackling it, both through the government's measures, the growth dividends, the goods and services tax credits, as well as the way in which you see a lot of community initiatives on the ground.'
In April, Singapore's annual inflation rose more than expected to a 26-year high of 7.5 per cent due to higher oil and food prices, prompting the government in May to raise its full-year inflation forecast to 5-6 per cent from 4.5-5.5 per cent.
Gross domestic product in Singapore grew 6.7 per cent in the first quarter of this year from a year ago, and the government stood by its GDP growth forecast of 4-6 per cent this year, which is below the average growth of about 8.1 per cent in the last four years. -- Xinhua
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