Singapore’s economy contracted by 42.9 percent in the second quarter compared with the previous quarter — sending the island into a technical recession, the Ministry of Trade and Industry said today, CNBC reports. The estimate, computed largely from data in April and May, had shown the economy shrinking by 41.2 percent in the second quarter compared to the prior three months. On a year-on-year basis, the economy shrank by 13.2 percent in the quarter ended June 30, according to the ministry. The ministry revised its full-year forecast for Singapore to register an economic contraction of between 5 percent and 7 percent in 2020. Large parts of the Singapore economy were shut in early April as the country entered a partial lockdown — which the government called a “circuit breaker” — to slow the spread of the coronavirus.

Source: The Standard August 11, 2020 01:18 UTC