DAILY NEWS

Daily News – 20 Feb 2020 (Thu)

Singapore Real Estate

Easing Singapore property curbs not on radar: DPM Heng
Singapore has no immediate plans to ease property curbs, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said on Wednesday, amid renewed calls by developers to loosen a measure that penalises them if they fail to complete and sell new projects within five years.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/real-estate/easing-singapore-property-curbs-not-on-radar-dpm-heng

Foreign worker quota cuts: Tough love for the construction sector
The Budget put millions of much needed rescue dollars on the table for tourism-related sectors reeling from the Covid-19 outbreak. But construction got tighter quotas on skilled foreign labour, instead of targeted goodies.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singapore-budget-2020/foreign-worker-quota-cuts-tough-love-for-the-construction

Companies’ Brief

CapitaLand introduces free parking at its malls during lunch, dinner hours
Government-linked landlord CapitaLand said on Wednesday that it’s been running a free parking promotion at its malls since last Friday, to bolster footfalls during the lunch and dinner hours amid the Covid-19 outbreak.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/capitaland-introduces-free-parking-at-its-malls-during-lunch-dinner-hours

Keppel gets triple-A rating for governance, green efforts
Keppel Corp announced yesterday that it has been upgraded to a triple-A rating in the Morgan Stanley Capital International (MSCI) environmental, social and governance (ESG) ratings. The ratings aim to measure companies’ resilience to long-term ESG risks and their ability to manage those risks relative to their peers. Companies are rated AAA to CCC.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/keppel-gets-triple-a-rating-for-governance-green-efforts

Perennial Real Estate Q4 earnings more than double to S$38.5m
Higher revenue contributions from its Singapore and China properties boosted earnings for real estate developer Perennial Real Estate Holdings in the fourth quarter. For the three months ended Dec 31, 2019, net profit more than doubled to S$38.5 million, from S$16 million a year ago, Perennial said on Thursday.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/perennial-real-estate-q4-earnings-more-than-double-to-s385m

Sasseur Reit’s Q4 DPU drops 18.5% to 1.629 S cents
Sasseur Real Estate Investment Trust (Sasseur Reit), which owns outlet malls in China, posted a 18.5 per cent decline in its distribution per unit (DPU) to 1.629 Singapore cents for the fourth quarter ended Dec 31, 2019, from 1.999 cents a year ago.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/sasseur-reits-q4-dpu-drops-185-to-1629-s-cents

Views, Reviews, Forum & Others

Budget 2020+: From Singapore to Singaporeans
Budgets take a long while to plan, and one can imagine that the Covid-19 outbreak in recent weeks must have added more measures (and anxiety) into its workings. Potentially, the outbreak could have created knee-jerk Budget responses. But this is Singapore – and this Budget is one of calm and confidence.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/budget-2020-from-singapore-to-singaporeans

Corporates should embrace Budget’s farsightedness
As Budget 2020 approached, it became increasingly clear that its key theme was going to be about cushioning the economy from the impact of Covid-19. So, for people who spend their time watching the markets, the whole event looked like it was going to be a snore.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/opinion/singapore-budget-2020/corporates-should-embrace-budgets-farsightedness

Supersized relief package for tourism sector
There really isn’t much not to like in the relief package pertinent to the tourism sector, not least the supersized amount that far exceeded the expectations of all the analysts. Yes, the anticipated hospitality property tax rebates and bridging loans bore resemblance to the severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars) relief handouts in 2003, but that was as far as the similarities went.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/supersized-relief-package-for-tourism-sector

Amid crisis, a promise of better days ahead
On the eve of the week that coronavirus (Covid-19) would descend on Singapore’s shores, here is what was at the top of the local news: Mental health declarations for job applicants without proper justification was deemed discriminatory; Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong had emphasised the importance of strong cooperation between the civil service and political leadership…
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/amid-crisis-a-promise-of-better-days-ahead

Singapore Budget 2020

Budget 2020’s short-term stimulus could be smaller than it seems
While Budget 2020’s projected overall deficit is the largest in over a decade, its fiscal impulse should not be overstated, said economists. More support might be needed, not least if the Covid-19 outbreak persists longer than expected. And as fiscal policy alone may provide insufficient support, expectations are for monetary easing at the next Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) policy meeting in April.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singapore-budget-2020/budget-2020s-short-term-stimulus-could-be-smaller-than-it

Budget 2020: Boon for some, muted impact for most listed firms
In sunnier times, there would have been jumbo winners on the Singapore Exchange from hotels, malls and aviation firms to retailers as a result of the cash splash, plentiful rebates on taxes to rents, delayed consumption tax and loans doled out by Singapore’s Budget 2020.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/companies-markets/budget-2020-boon-for-some-muted-impact-for-most-listed-firms

Singapore Budget 2020: Singapore aims to ride storm with eye on future, says Heng Swee Keat
This year’s Budget will provide a large fiscal boost to the Singapore economy at a time when it is in need of stabilisation, said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat. He also made it clear that this was not just to weather the immediate fallout of the coronavirus outbreak, but also so that the Republic stayed on track with its long-term goal of transforming its economy.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/spore-aims-to-ride-storm-with-eye-on-future-dpm-heng

A Budget for change that tests maturity of a nation
With Singapore more or less considered a First World economy, and amid declining tax rates globally, tax competition is no longer an effective tool and a growing tax revenue base is no longer a given. The strength of Singapore has always been our ability to push through necessary policies to ensure continued relevance on the world stage.
https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/a-budget-for-change-that-tests-maturity-of-a-nation

A much-needed leg-up Budget for the current turmoil and the future
This year’s Budget will provide a much-needed leg-up to businesses amid the current turmoil and for the future, according to industry players. The government on Tuesday unveiled a bumper package under the latest Budget to help firms and households alike tide over the ongoing Covid-19 outbreak…
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/a-much-needed-leg-up-budget-for-the-current-turmoil-and-the-future

Singapore Budget 2020: Businesses need even more help during outbreak, says panel
The Budget delivered a slew of measures to help tide businesses over until the coronavirus outbreak subsides but experts said more still needs to be done to help a broad range of enterprises stay afloat.
https://www.straitstimes.com/business/economy/businesses-need-even-more-help-during-outbreak-panel

Steps to stabilise economy and support workers
Singapore’s economy grew by a modest 0.7 per cent in 2019, the weakest growth since the 2008 financial crisis. Just as the global economy was beginning to recover, the coronavirus disease 2019, or Covid-19, outbreak hit us.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/steps-to-stabilise-economy-and-support-workers

Singapore Budget 2020: Strengthening partnerships, deepening capabilities and developing people
Technology and innovation will drive our productivity and our next phase of growth. Including sums allocated in previous years, I am allocating a total of $8.3 billion over the next three years to enable transformation and growth.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/strengthening-partnerships-deepening-capabilities-and-developing-people

UPDATE ON COVID-19 (CORONAVIRUS DISEASE 2019) SITUATION

WHO impressed by how Singapore handles coronavirus outbreak
Singapore’s efforts in tackling coronavirus cases and its approach in communicating to the public have won plaudits from experts and observers from around the world. World Health Organisation (WHO) chief Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he had spoken on Monday to Singapore Health Minister Gan Kim Yong.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/who-impressed-by-how-spore-handles-outbreak

Coronavirus: Businesses count the cost of their continuity plans
With Singapore in its second week since the authorities stepped up the national response to the coronavirus to the orange level, workers and business leaders who took measures to ensure the continuity of their operations are beginning to wonder just how long this state of affairs might continue.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/businesses-count-the-cost-of-their-continuity-plans

Singapore looking for new sources of masks
Singapore is looking for new sources of supply for masks and developing capabilities to manufacture them locally as other Asian countries clamp down on mask exports, Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong has said.
https://www.businesstimes.com.sg/government-economy/singapore-looking-for-new-sources-of-masks
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/singapore-looking-for-new-sources-for-masks

MOM: Send workers to hospitals only if it’s a medical emergency
The Ministry of Manpower (MOM) is warning employers not to send employees to hospitals unless there is a medical emergency, after getting feedback from hospitals that workers were being sent to be tested for the coronavirus.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singapore/manpower/mom-send-workers-to-hospitals-only-if-its-a-medical-emergency

*For more information, please visit the Ministry of Health (MOH) website at www.moh.gov.sg and refer to go.gov.sg/mohupdates for updates on the COVID-19 (Coronavirus Disease 2019) situation