Singapore

Staff were put on leave after one of the employees was diagnosed with COVID-19.

A total of 65 SGX primary-listed stocks conducted buybacks in March.

The 7x Short SiMSCI DLC gained 387% on the back of the index’s decline.

DBS saw the sharpest decline amongst top active stocks with a 2.26% drop.

And Manpower minister plans on penalties for firms who are not following the guidelines.

Three main sectors of the economy fell due to the escalating outbreak in the country.

Faith in the government still remains at a high level. 64% of Singaporeans expect they will be financially worse off in 2020 compared to 2019, according to a Blackbox survey. This increased by 19 percentage points from the 45% who said the same in the post-Budget carried out in February. Meanwhile, 7% of Singaporeans said they have lost their job already, whilst 15% have had their wages reduced, and 17% are working lesser hours. Despite the worrying economic circumstances, faith in the Government remains at a high level, with a full 54%, scoring 8 out of 10 in the resilience budget. The average score was 7.4 out of 10, up from 6.7 in comparison to February’s budget. However, 85% of those surveyed said the government should postpone the general election until after the crisis is over. The impact of the coronavirus is hitting the country both in health and economic terms as apart from reported job losses and reduced wages/working hours, 31% of Singaporeans are now also working and studying from home. In addition, 76% believe the number of cases will continue to increase in the next two weeks, whilst 5% of Singaporeans know someone who has contracted the virus and 4% have a family member who has contracted it.

Overseas relocation mainly from Hong Kong caused the increase.

Earlier this month, the World Health Organization (WHO) declared Covid-19 a global pandemic. This news has sent shock waves across the world and has forced governments to implement swiftly several measures to contain the virus. For example, in Singapore, the Ministry of Health (MOH) has advised employers to use videoconferencing wherever possible, allowing employees to commute at off-peak hours and other social distancing measures. The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) has advised special work-from-home arrangements to be made for older and pregnant employees, and those with underlying medical conditions. As a result, many Singaporean companies now face challenges in managing their workforces remotely and stay productive at the same time.

Two pop-up plans were also launched to new sign-ups for a limited time period.

It is available to those owing money to banks and licensed moneylenders.

Lower condo prices in CCR may have been due to lower median price sales at The M.

He moved from his CFO post in a legaltech firm. Grab Holdings Inc. (Grab) has hired corporate finance veteran, Peter Oey, as chief financial officer (CFO), according to an announcement. Oey brings over 20 years of corporate financial and strategic planning experience to Grab, joining from legal technology solutions provider LegalZoom where he served as CFO for more than five years. He will be reporting directly to Grab’s Group CEO and co-founder, Anthony Tan, and work closely with Grab’s President Ming Maa.  

These include a waiver of gross rental for April 2020 and rent cuts of 15%-25%.

Policies will remain valid throughout the period.

It is expected to be completed in Q3.