Channel NewsAsia - Wednesday, December 10SINGAPORE: Many multinational corporations are planning to retrench workers in Asia due to the economic downturn. Among them are Sony Electronics and Nomura, a financial services group. It’s believed staff at their Singapore offices will be affected.
Sony’s Japan headquarters announced that it is cutting 8,000 jobs worldwide as demand for consumer electronic goods has slowed significantly.
Sony said its headquarters is now reviewing its operations in each country.
While there are no specific numbers available for Singapore, what’s clear is that Sony is cutting costs.
Reports have also said that Japan’s biggest brokerage Nomura is laying off 100 people in Asia this year, including some in Singapore.
It is said the positions will be in its equity operations in places like Hong Kong and Singapore.
Nomura said it’s evaluating business opportunities and is now making strategic decisions about resource allocation and employee numbers.
Singapore’s labour movement urged Sony and Nomura to justify the headcount cut.
Halimah Yacob, Deputy Secretary—General, NTUC, said: "What these two companies will have to do is to explain the circumstances under which these retrenchments are being carried out, that they have exhausted all other possibilities and not just merely say this is the headquarters’ instruction to them."
Madam Halimah doesn’t believe the latest retrenchments will trigger a snowball effect, prompting other MNCs to do the same.
She added: "Workers do look at the kind of employers they want to work with so when employers resort to retrenchments when there’s no necessity, then obviously when times are better and they need workers they’ll find it a lot harder to get workers."
Observers said it’s not entirely surprising that companies like those in the electronics and finance industries are resorting to retrenchments. But companies are once again reminded to implement and exhaust all the tripartite guidelines first to cut costs.
Some measures under the guidelines include introducing shorter work weeks and flexible work arrangements. — CNA/vm
Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Singapore. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 10, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
CapitaLand to cut staff salaries between 3-20 pct
Source: Yahoo news.singapore
Reuters - 2 hours 8 minutes agoSINGAPORE, Dec 3 - Southeast Asia's largest developer, CapitaLand, said on Wednesday it will cut staff pay between three to 20 percent in light of a slowing domestic economy.
CapitaLand said in a statement that the firm-wide measures will affect mostly management and executive level employees, with its chief executive, Liew Mun Leong, bearing the maximum cut of 20 percent.
The cuts will take effect in January 2009.
"We felt that the proactive measures demonstrate the Groups disciplined capital management and prudence during these global financial and economic uncertainties," Liew said.
Some Singapore firms have started laying off staff and cutting salaries in light of the tough economic conditions. State investor Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] said last month it will cut staff pay between 15 to 25 percent while DBS Group and Neptune Orient Lines said they will be cutting jobs.
Reuters - 2 hours 8 minutes agoSINGAPORE, Dec 3 - Southeast Asia's largest developer, CapitaLand
CapitaLand said in a statement that the firm-wide measures will affect mostly management and executive level employees, with its chief executive, Liew Mun Leong, bearing the maximum cut of 20 percent.
The cuts will take effect in January 2009.
"We felt that the proactive measures demonstrate the Groups disciplined capital management and prudence during these global financial and economic uncertainties," Liew said.
Some Singapore firms have started laying off staff and cutting salaries in light of the tough economic conditions. State investor Temasek Holdings [TEM.UL] said last month it will cut staff pay between 15 to 25 percent while DBS Group
Wednesday, October 29, 2008
Singapore's economy remains weak
Quoted from Yahoo!
SINGAPORE, Oct 28, 2008 (AFP) - Singapore's economy, which is already in a technical recession, will remain weak in 2009 on projections the global economic outlook will deteriorate further, the central bank said Tuesday.
As a financial crisis evolves to impact economic activity worldwide, the city-state is likely to be hammered given its heavy exposure to external demand, the Monetary Authority (MAS) said in its Macro Economic Review.
"Looking ahead, the outlook for the global economy has deteriorated amidst heightened risk aversion and deleveraging in the financial sector," MAS said.
As a small and open trading economy, Singapore is vulnerable to any downturn in its major export markets such as the United States, Europe, China, India and Japan.
"The risks to external demand conditions continue to be on the downside, and a more severe global slowdown cannot be discounted," the MAS warned.
"Taking all these factors into account GDP growth is expected to be around 3.0 percent in 2008, and the economy will continue to grow below its potential rate into 2009," the MAS said.
Prospects for a recovery late next year hinge on the performance of key global economies, it said.
Singapore this month cut its economic growth forecast for 2008 to 3.0 percent from between 4.0 and 5.0 percent after the economy slipped into a technical recession, described as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
Real gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 6.3 percent in the third quarter after contracting 5.7 percent in the previous quarter, according to preliminary government data.
The MAS said Singapore's financial sector will suffer from a direct impact, while weakening consumer sentiment will affect retail trade and the property market.
Other segments of the econonomy like manufacturing and tourism will suffer from falling external demand, it said.
-----
Quoted from Yahoo!
SINGAPORE, Oct 28 - Singapore's economy will grow below a potential rate of 4-6 percent in 2009 as the impact from a global financial crisis spreads across the whole economy and drags on previously resilient sectors such as manufacturing, the central bank said.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore said in its twice-yearly macroeconomic review report on Tuesday that the risks faced by Singapore's trade-dependent economy had shifted to slowing growth from rising prices, because the economic downturn has helped tame inflation.
It said it was ready to dampen excess volatility in Singapore's nominal effective exchange rate band, which it uses to set monetary policy by adjusting the strength of the Singapore dollar against a basket of currencies.
It said it had also temporarily increased the level of liquidity in the banking system.
"Growth will likely remain below trend in 2009," the central bank said on Tuesday. "Concomitantly, external and domestic inflationary pressures are likely to ease."
The government has said previously that the potential trend growth in the medium term is between 4 to 6 percent.
The central bank said prospects of Singapore's economy recovering in the latter half of 2009 will depend significantly on growth in the United States, Europe, Japan, and other regional economies.
Singapore's economy fell into a recession in the July-to-September period, the country's first recession since 2002, as manufacturing activity and exports slumped.
The central bank said Singapore's economy is expected to grow about 3 percent this year, with inflation hitting 6-7 percent in 2008 before easing to between 2.5-3.5 percent in 2009.
However, the central bank warned it will take time for the decline in prices to be reflected in the consumer price index.
"Headline inflation rates could be sticky downwards for a while as the prices of some goods and services continue to react to past increases," it said.
The central bank said Singapore's economy appeared to be experiencing the "second phase of the impact from global shocks".
"There are emerging signs that the adverse effects had spread from the vulnerable industries to segments that had previously been considered relatively resilient."
The recession prompted Singapore's central bank to ease monetary policy in October for the first time since 2003.
The central bank said on Tuesday it loosened policy in October because of "dissipating inflationary pressures and increased downside risks to growth".
SINGAPORE, Oct 28, 2008 (AFP) - Singapore's economy, which is already in a technical recession, will remain weak in 2009 on projections the global economic outlook will deteriorate further, the central bank said Tuesday.
As a financial crisis evolves to impact economic activity worldwide, the city-state is likely to be hammered given its heavy exposure to external demand, the Monetary Authority (MAS) said in its Macro Economic Review.
"Looking ahead, the outlook for the global economy has deteriorated amidst heightened risk aversion and deleveraging in the financial sector," MAS said.
As a small and open trading economy, Singapore is vulnerable to any downturn in its major export markets such as the United States, Europe, China, India and Japan.
"The risks to external demand conditions continue to be on the downside, and a more severe global slowdown cannot be discounted," the MAS warned.
"Taking all these factors into account GDP growth is expected to be around 3.0 percent in 2008, and the economy will continue to grow below its potential rate into 2009," the MAS said.
Prospects for a recovery late next year hinge on the performance of key global economies, it said.
Singapore this month cut its economic growth forecast for 2008 to 3.0 percent from between 4.0 and 5.0 percent after the economy slipped into a technical recession, described as two consecutive quarters of negative growth.
Real gross domestic product (GDP) declined by 6.3 percent in the third quarter after contracting 5.7 percent in the previous quarter, according to preliminary government data.
The MAS said Singapore's financial sector will suffer from a direct impact, while weakening consumer sentiment will affect retail trade and the property market.
Other segments of the econonomy like manufacturing and tourism will suffer from falling external demand, it said.
-----
Quoted from Yahoo!
SINGAPORE, Oct 28 - Singapore's economy will grow below a potential rate of 4-6 percent in 2009 as the impact from a global financial crisis spreads across the whole economy and drags on previously resilient sectors such as manufacturing, the central bank said.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore said in its twice-yearly macroeconomic review report on Tuesday that the risks faced by Singapore's trade-dependent economy had shifted to slowing growth from rising prices, because the economic downturn has helped tame inflation.
It said it was ready to dampen excess volatility in Singapore's nominal effective exchange rate band, which it uses to set monetary policy by adjusting the strength of the Singapore dollar
It said it had also temporarily increased the level of liquidity in the banking system.
"Growth will likely remain below trend in 2009," the central bank said on Tuesday. "Concomitantly, external and domestic inflationary pressures are likely to ease."
The government has said previously that the potential trend growth in the medium term is between 4 to 6 percent.
The central bank said prospects of Singapore's economy recovering in the latter half of 2009 will depend significantly on growth in the United States, Europe, Japan, and other regional economies.
Singapore's economy fell into a recession in the July-to-September period, the country's first recession since 2002, as manufacturing activity and exports slumped.
The central bank said Singapore's economy is expected to grow about 3 percent this year, with inflation hitting 6-7 percent in 2008 before easing to between 2.5-3.5 percent in 2009.
However, the central bank warned it will take time for the decline in prices to be reflected in the consumer price index.
"Headline inflation rates could be sticky downwards for a while as the prices of some goods and services continue to react to past increases," it said.
The central bank said Singapore's economy appeared to be experiencing the "second phase of the impact from global shocks".
"There are emerging signs that the adverse effects had spread from the vulnerable industries to segments that had previously been considered relatively resilient."
The recession prompted Singapore's central bank to ease monetary policy in October for the first time since 2003.
The central bank said on Tuesday it loosened policy in October because of "dissipating inflationary pressures and increased downside risks to growth".
Monday, September 22, 2008
S’pore ranks top in global list of destination for meetings and business
Quoted:
S’pore ranks top in global list of destination for meetings and business
"SINGAPORE: For the first time, Singapore has clinched top spot as the best place for meetings and businesss, beating global players such as Paris and Vienna.
The Union of International Associations (UIA) Global Rankings also gave Singapore top billing as the number one Asian country for meetings, a position Singapore has held for the past 24 years.
The Singapore Tourism Board said the country accounted for 22.5 per cent of the meetings held in Asia in 2007.
Over the past ten years, Singapore has also seen a whopping 256 per cent growth in international meetings staged here.
Last year, Singapore hosted 465 international meetings that met UIA’s qualifying criteria, representing a significant 56 per cent growth over 2006.
Most notable among the meetings were the 3rd Hague International Model of United Nations, the 27th International Epilepsy Congress, the 2nd World Glaucoma Congress & Exhibition, the 18th Wonca World Conference 2007 and International Bar Association Conference 2007 which cumulatively drew close to 12,700 delegates to converge in Singapore. — CNA"
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