Recession Possible for Tourism-Dependent Singapore Due to Coronavirus: Prime Minister

Singapore’s economy could enter a recession due to the blow from the coronavirus outbreak, its prime minister said in comments reported by the Straits Times newspaper on Friday.

“I can’t say whether we will have a recession or not. It’s possible, but definitely our economy will take a hit,” Lee Hsien Loong said.

“It’s already much more than SARS,” he added, referring to the economic impact of the 2003 Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome outbreak that killed over 30 in the city-state and nearly 800 worldwide.

The Asian business hub had just been showing signs of recovery from its lowest growth rate in a decade last year – a paltry 0.7% – when the outbreak spread to the city-state in late January.

(Reporting by Aradhana Aravindan and John Geddie in Singapore; Editing by Kim Coghill)

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