SINGAPORE: Singapore is in talks with banks to improve financing schemes for local businesses after they expressed concerns over cancelled or delayed orders and worries about receiving payment from their customers amid ongoing trade tensions.
According to the Singapore Business Review, on Friday (May 16), Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong said at the media doorstop of the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce (SERT) that they are talking to the banks and reviewing various financing schemes already in place to see whether they are adequate and if there is room to enhance them.
He added that they are preparing schemes that can be rolled out, if needed, to help companies address their specific areas of concern.
Mr Gan explained that some orders had been delayed or cancelled, which would affect their revenue and cash flow. He noted that some businesses were concerned about their working capital, adding that these were the immediate issues they wanted to address.
While Mr Gan called the recent decision by the US and China to cut tariffs an encouraging development, he said this is just the starting point and the outlook remains “very uncertain,” especially at the end of the 90-day U.S. reciprocal tariff pause.
He said, “I think the journey will be quite long. It will take time for the two countries to come to an agreement with one another; whether they will eventually be able to come to an agreement is, again, uncertain.”
Mr Gan said SERT has been working with local businesses to help them prepare for the impact of tariffs. They have also spoken to workers and households, who raised concerns about job security and the rising cost of living.
He added that the focus for workers is on creating more job opportunities. The government has already launched training programmes and is involving schools in providing job placement support.
The government recently rolled out a new S$500 tranche of CDC vouchers to support households. Mr Gan said this would help Singaporean households cope with an economic slowdown. /TISG
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