News

Singapore exports, surging the most in four years, are improving as strength is seen in electronics and pharmaceutical demand.

With concern over the outlook for 2010, Singaporeans listed their top 3 financial concerns: cost of living expenses, job security and changes in salary. According to a recent Visa survey, 20 percent of Singaporean respondents said they were more confident about their personal financial situation compared with six months ago. This was lower than the survey average of 27 percent taken across 10 other countries across the Asia Pacific. 61% responded that the top concern was cost of living expenses, 58% job security and 57% change in salary. This was mostly consistent with the results retrieved from the other 10 source markets surveyed:Australia, China, Hong Kong, India, Indonesia, Japan, Korea, Malaysia, New Zealand and Taiwan. 48 percent of respondents said they were very or extremely concerned about living expense, 44 per cent listed increasing savings and another 44 percent brought up job security as top concern. percent) and job security (44 percent). Singaporean respondents were less concerned about the interest rates for mortgages/loans (36 percent of respondents were very or extremely concerned), payment card debt (35 percent) and fluctuating exchange rates (24 percent). Meranda Chan, Visa’s Country Manager in Singapore said: “What we can see from these findings is that Singaporeans are being very pragmatic when it comes to looking ahead to 2010 and are focused on the financial concerns they can manage. “Across the region and in Singapore, consumers are looking at their expenses, their savings and their job security to see how they can manage these rather than focusing on longer-term or more macro-economic conditions such as exchange rates, interest rates or investment portfolios,” said Chan. One way in which consumers are driving more value out of their money is to find the most economical way to spend it. According to the Visa eCommerce Consumer Monitor2, 84 percent of Singapore respondents said they had shopped online in the last 12 months. The top reasons for using the internet to make purchases were because the could shop anytime (79 percent), compare prices and save money (78 percent), find and compare products easily (77 percent) and search for bargains (77 percent). “Making purchases online is one way that consumers can really get the most out of their spending power. Another way consumers can get more value out of every dollar they spend is to use a payment card, where every dollar spent can be used to build up rewards points which in turn can be redeemed for other items,” Chan said.  

Shopping malls may have been springing up all over Singapore, but the new malls may not be enough to save the suffering retail sector.

Beginning 28 March 2010, Singapore Airlines customers will get to fly on the Airbus A380 when they fly from Singapore to Zurich.

Singapore Telecommunications Ltd. has yet to proceed with a partial float as it awaits what's in store for its Optus unit.

The financial crisis didn’t stop Singaporeans accounting for 73 % of all property transactions in ASEAN in Q4 last year.

ACRA, the Accounting and Corporate Regulatory Authority, has launched an online tool to let people analyse local companies' financial figures.

After posting losses for almost half a decade, Dayen Environmental eyes S$300 million worth of water contracts for 2010.

Yanlord has purchased two adjacent land parcels in Hainan, China for $309.1 million.

Singapore Press Holdings has posted a net profit of $145 million for the first quarter ended 30 November 2009.

Singapore Technologies Engineering has announced plans to form joint venture Hovertrans Solutions, through its marine arm.

The Government of Singapore Investment Corp purchased 5.4 percent stake in Shanda Games, China's second-largest online game company.

Tiger Airways has announced that the delivery of its five new planes will be accelerated to early 2011 instead of 2016 as before.

Supply chain manager Olam International announced its acquisition of Crown Flour Mills Limited for a consideration of US$107.6 million.

Popular street directory site Gothere.sg may soon face tough competition.

Citing the property's debt problems, the Government of Singapore Investment Corp said losses have been booked for its Stuyvesant Town investment.