Singapore on the forefront of Southeast Asia’s recovery: report

GDP in the region is expected to rebound to 4.8% in 2021, from a 4.1% contraction last year.

Singapore continues to lead Southeast Asia’s economic recovery on the back of successful roll-out of vaccines in the country, according to a report commissioned by ICAEW.

The report predicted that Singapore’s gross domestic product (GDP) will recover to 6.4% after contracting 5.4% in 2020, despite a possible short extension of its Phase 2 Heightened Alert. It also predicted that Singapore will be the only country to reach herd immunity against COVID-19 by the end of 2021.

Meanwhile, the report said that most economies in SEA will experience an accelerated recovery in the second half of 2021.

“While most South-East Asian economies have experienced a surge in Covid-19 cases since the start of 2021, leading to the reinstatement of social distancing measures, this has dimmed, but not derailed regional economic recovery. Moving forward, progress on vaccination will continue to be an important barometer for growth in the second half of 2021. We expect that countries which are able to contain new Covid-19 cases and reach high levels of vaccinations will outperform the rest of the region and be better placed for recovery,” said Mark Billington, managing director of ICAEW International.