RECESSION

Mr Zainul Abidin Rasheed asked the Minister for Trade and Industry if he will indicate whether Singapore's economy will slip into a recession this year, despite the strong fundamentals of its economy.

Mr Lee Yock Suan: The Singapore economy is affected by the developments in the region given our close linkages. The impact on the sectors is not uniform. Sectors which depend on the region are badly affected.

However, as the economy is well diversified, overall growth is supported by healthy performance in the US and EU economies. We do not expect the Singapore economy to slip into negative growth this year.