Daily Briefing: Oil price collapse triggers Singapore layoffs; Developer sales down 23%

And economists cut growth forecast for Singapore economy to 1.9%.

In Singapore’s worst year for layoffs since the global financial crisis, workers at offshore-marine companies were significant victims—a sign of how reeling oil prices have scuttled a key part of the country’s economy. Read more here.

New private home sales in Singapore fell by 22.8 percent to 301 units in February 2016, from 390 units in the same period last year, according to data released by the Urban Redevelopment Authority (URA) on Tuesday, 15 March. On a monthly basis, the sales volume fell by 6.8 percent from the 323 units sold in January 2016, even though new launches surged 31.4 percent to 209 units from 159 units previously. Find out more here.

Economists polled by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) are cutting down their growth forecast for the economy for 2016 from 2.2 percent to 1.9 percent, the central bank's latest quarterly survey revealed Wednesday (16 March). "As reflected by the mean probability distribution, the most likely outcome is for the Singapore economy to grow by between 1.0 to 1.9 percent this year, below the 2.0 to 2.9 percent range reported in the last survey," the MAS said. Read more here.