Finance Minster says S'pore not headed for recession

Singapore Minister of Finance, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, says that, though there will be some economic discomfort, he does not believe Singapore is headed for a recession. As it is for most countries, fuel costs are spurring speculation that the S'pore economy may take a downturn, a fact that Shanmugaratnam doesn't deny "Unfortunately, the fuel price increase in Malaysia does mean that vegetable, poultry and some other prices will go up. We can't avoid that." He points out that rice prices are falling across the world.

He adds that government initiatives like Growth Dividends, GST credits, and community action plans are helping the country avoid a full-blown recession. Shanmugaratnam spoke at the Entrepreneur-in-You carnival at Republic Polytechnic that 7000 would-be entrepreneurs attended.

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