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<TABLE cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width=452 border=0><TBODY><TR vAlign=top><TD>Good life for Familee, Jobs for FTrash and NS for Sporns! Btw, where is our $258B???</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>
Published March 2, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Singapore not in dire straits, says PM Lee
He points out that it has the resources to deal with the downturn and has put out a good Budget
By ANNA TEO
IN HUA HIN, THAILAND
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FOR all the pervasive doom and gloom, Asia is not in crisis and Singapore is not in dire straits, says Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, invoking a 'sense of balance' about the state of the economy.
<TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>Mr Lee: Keep a sense of balance in handling bad news about the economy </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>'It's different from the (1998) Asian crisis when we were (at) ground zero,' he said during an interview with the Singapore media at the close of the Asean summit yesterday in Hua Hin.
Then, exchange rates in Asia crashed, buildings in some cities stood half built, there were property bubbles galore.
'This time, Asia is basically sound but the problem has come from the rest of the world and pushed our trade way down, our exports way down, our tourism numbers way down, our growth way down,' he said.
While Singapore's official 2009 growth forecast remains a 2 to 5 per cent contraction, Mr Lee said in a CNBC interview earlier this week that the economy could well contract by 8 per cent if Singapore's exports were to fall by a third.
'Looking at the world, there is reason for worry. Looking at Singapore, what we can do, we have done to our utmost ability and generally we have done the right things.'
So despite the gloom, 'we are not in a bad position', Mr Lee said, pointing out that Singapore has the resources to deal with the downturn and has put out a good Budget.
'I know people say, why didn't you help households more directly, but the right way to help people now, to us anyway, is not to give them vouchers or coupons or hongbaos to spend but to help them keep their jobs.'
And there are the projects in the pipeline, like the two integrated resorts in the works, to look to, he added.
'I was talking to (Thai Prime Minister ) Abhisit yesterday. He asked me what's our tourism number. I said minus 10 per cent. He said that's not bad. I said, why? He said 'we may be minus 20 per cent'.
'So (we were) sympathising, sharing woes, with one another. But basically in time, the demand will come back and we will pick up again, and we live through these.'
Asked to comment on the Hong Kong Budget unveiled last week, and whether Hong Kong might then recover ahead of Singapore, Mr Lee said: 'No, we're not in a race with Hong Kong. When we come out (of the crisis) depends on the world; it doesn't depend on us.'
What matters is how Singapore handles the downturn. 'We have chosen one way of doing this. Hong Kong has done a different way. We went for a big package this year. Hong Kong decided not to have a big package. They're in a different situation. We're not concerned about Hong Kong and I don't think Hong Kong is concerned about Singapore. We're concerned about our situation internally, and the broader situation in Asean and in the world.'
With America - Asia's main engine of growth - likely to be 'only half firing at best for years to come', the region will have to count on China and India, which are revving up their domestic demand.
'As they pick up, it will help us, but unfortunately the lift will be less than America and Europe and we have to accept that.'
Meanwhile, it's best to 'keep a sense of balance' in handling the seemingly unending spate of bad news about the economy, he said, when asked to comment on suggestions that people stop harping on rising retrenchments and just focus on saving jobs.
'On the one hand, acknowledge and be conscious of the severity of the problem. On the other hand, don't psych yourself into a funk that you're unable to get out of bed in the morning.'
</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>
Published March 2, 2009
</TD></TR><TR><TD vAlign=top width=452 colSpan=2>Singapore not in dire straits, says PM Lee
He points out that it has the resources to deal with the downturn and has put out a good Budget
By ANNA TEO
IN HUA HIN, THAILAND
<TABLE class=storyLinks cellSpacing=4 cellPadding=1 width=136 align=right border=0><TBODY><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20>
</TD><TD>Email this article</TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20></TD><TD>Print article </TD></TR><TR class=font10><TD align=right width=20></TD><TD>Feedback</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>FOR all the pervasive doom and gloom, Asia is not in crisis and Singapore is not in dire straits, says Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, invoking a 'sense of balance' about the state of the economy.
<TABLE class=picBoxL cellSpacing=2 width=100 align=left><TBODY><TR><TD>
</TD></TR><TR class=caption><TD>Mr Lee: Keep a sense of balance in handling bad news about the economy </TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE>'It's different from the (1998) Asian crisis when we were (at) ground zero,' he said during an interview with the Singapore media at the close of the Asean summit yesterday in Hua Hin.Then, exchange rates in Asia crashed, buildings in some cities stood half built, there were property bubbles galore.
'This time, Asia is basically sound but the problem has come from the rest of the world and pushed our trade way down, our exports way down, our tourism numbers way down, our growth way down,' he said.
While Singapore's official 2009 growth forecast remains a 2 to 5 per cent contraction, Mr Lee said in a CNBC interview earlier this week that the economy could well contract by 8 per cent if Singapore's exports were to fall by a third.
'Looking at the world, there is reason for worry. Looking at Singapore, what we can do, we have done to our utmost ability and generally we have done the right things.'
So despite the gloom, 'we are not in a bad position', Mr Lee said, pointing out that Singapore has the resources to deal with the downturn and has put out a good Budget.
'I know people say, why didn't you help households more directly, but the right way to help people now, to us anyway, is not to give them vouchers or coupons or hongbaos to spend but to help them keep their jobs.'
And there are the projects in the pipeline, like the two integrated resorts in the works, to look to, he added.
'I was talking to (Thai Prime Minister ) Abhisit yesterday. He asked me what's our tourism number. I said minus 10 per cent. He said that's not bad. I said, why? He said 'we may be minus 20 per cent'.
'So (we were) sympathising, sharing woes, with one another. But basically in time, the demand will come back and we will pick up again, and we live through these.'
Asked to comment on the Hong Kong Budget unveiled last week, and whether Hong Kong might then recover ahead of Singapore, Mr Lee said: 'No, we're not in a race with Hong Kong. When we come out (of the crisis) depends on the world; it doesn't depend on us.'
What matters is how Singapore handles the downturn. 'We have chosen one way of doing this. Hong Kong has done a different way. We went for a big package this year. Hong Kong decided not to have a big package. They're in a different situation. We're not concerned about Hong Kong and I don't think Hong Kong is concerned about Singapore. We're concerned about our situation internally, and the broader situation in Asean and in the world.'
With America - Asia's main engine of growth - likely to be 'only half firing at best for years to come', the region will have to count on China and India, which are revving up their domestic demand.
'As they pick up, it will help us, but unfortunately the lift will be less than America and Europe and we have to accept that.'
Meanwhile, it's best to 'keep a sense of balance' in handling the seemingly unending spate of bad news about the economy, he said, when asked to comment on suggestions that people stop harping on rising retrenchments and just focus on saving jobs.
'On the one hand, acknowledge and be conscious of the severity of the problem. On the other hand, don't psych yourself into a funk that you're unable to get out of bed in the morning.'
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