Risk Outlook

The largest risk I perceive to Singapore's future economy is the US-China Trade War as Singapore is a highly trade dependant country. However, it was mentioned that it can affect Singapore in either way. It all started back in July 2018 where the US government imposed a 25% tariffs on the imports by China; then China defended by imposing the tariffs back. Then, Donald Trump (US president) retaliated by raising the tariffs on US$200 Billion and then China again, mentioned that from June 2019, it will impose tariffs on US$60 billion worth of US good.

Global stock markets have suffered due to the knock-on effect, and this can impact our financial markets as investors will lose confidence to invest also and industries like manufacture, transport, retail, and wholesale; which in turn may cause an economic recession. It is important to hold Singapore's economy strong, to reduce the downside effects; and this can be improved by building strong businesses and the workforce in all the different industries.

However, if Singapore is positioned well, we can be gaining from this trade war even though it was worsen from 2018. For example, if Chinese companies have surplus supply of goods because of the Trade war with US, this can drive down the prices for other export markets due to the demand and Singapore can be gaining from this as goods can be purchased at lower prices.

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