Asia Times Online, 6 Nov 2008, Megawati Wijaya
"SINGAPORE - When the United States and Europe showed early signs of financial distress last year, Singapore came to the rescue of a handful of big investment banks hit by subprime mortgage problems. But as the financial contagion spreads, the island nation's open economy is emerging at least in the short term as one of the region's biggest losers from the crisis."
"Despite the island state's emergence as a regional financial hub and its limited exposure to the toxic securitized financial products which have blown big holes in Western banks' balance sheets, Singapore's economy is in a bad way. That's because its economic growth is still highly reliant on commercial trade, with merchandise exports representing over 220% of gross domestic product (GDP), according to a Credit Suisse research report."
"Singapore's ability to maintain a position as a global financial hub - already the world's largest private banking center next to Switzerland - will also likely require a rethink in the wake of the crisis, some analysts say. Srinivasan believes the sudden demise of global investment banks, in which some of which Singapore's government-linked investment arms recently took major stakes, will have a negative impact on previously money-spinning proprietary trading and hedge fund activities here."
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