Singapore’s economy is now on the verge of collapse with major sectors seeing at leats 80% of their daily business wiped out by the Wuhan virus outbreak in Singapore. All businesses are now begging the Singapore government for assistance in rent and license fees.
FnB outlets and restaurants in shopping malls are bleeding themselves dry from exorbitant rentals. When approached by the restaurant association, major landlords like CapitaMall refused to lower rents and instead offered useless help like “increase marketing effort”.
Taxi drivers are also among the worst hit, with drivers reporting they take home only S$2 after rent deduction and expenses. Taxi companies like ComfortDelgro have also refused to slash daily rents which cost as much as S$110 a day.
Tourism-related companies and agencies have also saw at least a 90% reduction in bookings, with the airline companies next to be on the chopping board.
The Singapore government has so far extended unwilling assistance and government aid like giving S$20 off rental for taxi drivers, and waiving license fees for hotels and travel agencies.
There is no further announcement because the ruling party PAP government is preparing to politicise the government aid in the upcoming Budget next Tuesday (Feb 18) for the year’s General Election.
Unemployment rate for Singaporeans before the January outbreak was standing at a decade-high of 3.3%. This figure is expected to hit 4% by mid 2020.