Weblog -- Business -- Pre-May 2003
Thursday, 9 January 2003 -- Building Slump
The following points came from a pre-SARS report on the local construction industry, in Today (9 January 2003):
As Singapore struggles to recover from its worst recession in almost four decades, construction work in the country is expected to fall 15 per cent in 2003. "The Building and Construction Authority (BCA) said it expects contracts to amount to $12 billion, down from $14.2 billion last year [ 2002 ]. For the next few years, it expects construction work to range between $13 billion and $15 billion a year as the economy recovers, reported Bloomberg."
"Property projects are slowing down after housing prices fell for nine of the last 10 quarters and Singapore office vacancies rose to a three-year high of 15 per cent. After a recession in 2001, Singapore narrowly avoided a second last year [ 2002 ] when the economy expanded at an annualised 0.1 per cent in the fourth quarter [ Oct-Dec 2002 ]."
Thursday, 5 December 2002 -- Letter from a Marcus Loh to Today
The following was from a letter writer in last year's Today, which is a tabloid-size English daily that is free during the weekdays and costs $S0.50 for the Sat-Sun edition:
We should ... honestly ask ourselves, if today's Singapore reflects the will of the people, whether it has the same government-citizen camaraderie that is worth fighting for.
... I feel that it [ Singapore Government ] has an authoritative parent-child relationship with the people.
For instance, why haven't our ministers taken salary cuts to show that they are willing to go through "thick and thin" like the rest of Singapore.
Their advice sounds insensitive when they have secure jobs and high salaries amid the current economic crisis. I also do not think that Singaporeans have become affluent. We are struggling to pay our mortgages, rent, car loans and household expenses.
Perhaps, what Singaporeans need is not help from the Government but to be [left] alone to "decide how we want our lives to be".