Introduction
The Ministry of Trade and Industry's consecutive cuts to its
forecast of Singapore's GDP growth and the Monetary Authority
of Singapore's most recent quarterly brief1 signal
that Singapore may be approaching a period of economic
downturn.2 Statistics from the Ministry of Law indicate
this to be so, as applications for corporate insolvencies have
steadily increased since 2011.3 At the industry level,
worse-than-expected performance in trade and manufacturing has been
identified as the primary cause for the Ministry of Trade and
Industry's cuts. The likelihood of recovery in these sectors in
the near term has also, unfortunately, been expressed to be muted
at best, with negative spillover effects anticipated to affect the
trade-related services that have hitherto remained resilient in the
face of the slowing global economy, such as transportation and
storage.
