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SINGAPORE – Singapore will not return to a pre-Covid 19 world, and must chart a new path by building a new economy now, said Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing.
At a press conference on Tuesday (Aug 11) where it was announced that Singapore’s economy contracted 6.7 per cent in the first half of this year and is expected to shrink by between 5 and 7 per cent this year, Mr Chan said the “painful truth” is that the country will not return to a pre-Covid 19 world.
He said that recurring waves of infection and disruption mean that recovery will take time. “Recovery will be uneven across sectors. Some sectors will progressively recover, while others will be permanently changed.”
He also cautioned that the current crisis is unlike the 1998 Asian financial crisis or 2009 global financial crisis, where “if we hunker down, things will improve in a few months”.
“If we wait it out, we will likely be in worse shape than we are now,” he said, adding that the Republic must start now to build a new economy and create more and better job opportunities for people. “We cannot wait for Covid to blow over.”
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