Singapore Morning News For May 24

Singapore maintains 3rd position in world ranking for competitiveness
Singapore has held on to its spot as the world’s third-most competitive economy in an annual ranking released on Thursday (May 24) by Switzerland-based research group IMD World Competitiveness Centre.
— Channel NewsAsia

Singapore passport no longer the most powerful in the world, Japan now occupies top spot
The Singapore passport is no longer the most powerful in the world, according to the latest Henley Passport Index. Japan now occupies the top spot and its passport can be used to travel visa-free to a record 189 destinations.
— Business Insider

Singapore is 4th most expensive city in Asia to build in
SINGAPORE is the fourth most expensive city in Asia to build in, behind Hong Kong, Macau and Tokyo, in that order, according to a survey by global design and consultancy firm Arcadis.
— The Business Times

S’pore’s GDP growth for 2018 expected to be between 2.5% and 3.5%: MTI
The Republic’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth for 2018 is expected to range from 2.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent, higher than the 1.5 per cent to 3.5 per cent announced previously.
— Today Online

Singapore April industrial output growth seen at 8.3 Percent year on year: Reuters poll
Singapore’s industrial production likely expanded at a faster pace in April compared with the year earlier, buoyed by an upward swing in pharmaceuticals output, a Reuters poll showed on Wednesday.
— Reuters

7 in 10 CEOs are unsure if they can spot cyber threats: KPMG
But half insisted that they are prepared for containing a future cyber attack.
Singapore CEOs are taking personal ownership for driving digital transformation, KPMG revealed. However, Singapore CEOs are less confident about their personal ability to lead business transformation (58%) than their global peers (72%).
— Singapore Business Review

Google Cloud Platform launches third zone in Singapore
Google Cloud Platform (GCP) has opened a third zone in its Singapore region and launched three new cloud services.
— Telecomasia.net

Trump: ‘We will know next week about Singapore’
President Donald Trump said on Wednesday that further clarity about his upcoming summit with Kim Jong Un would come next week.
— CNN

WuXi Biologics expands manufacturing to Singapore with $60m facility
WuXi Biologics is expanding its manufacturing site network to Singapore with the construction of a $60m facility for clinical and small volume commercial production.
— Biopharma-reporter (paywall)

Grab unable to offer 20% of former Uber staff jobs
Singapore-based Grab confirmed that it was unable to offer suitable roles to less than 20% of Uber’s former employees in Southeast Asia.
— Human Resources Director

Singapore: Amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code and Evidence Act – Impact on Investigations
On 19 March 2018, the Singapore Parliament approved a suite of new criminal justice reforms by way of amendments to the Criminal Procedure Code (“CPC“) and the Evidence Act (“EA“).
— Global Compliance News

Finda to roll out facial recognition in Singapore
FINDA System (Asia) Pte Ltd (Finda), a fintech company offering Know-Your-Customer (KYC) solutions to the banking sector, on May 24 announced that it had received a grant from the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) through the central bank’s FSTI (Financial Sector Technology and Innovation) Proof of Concept (POC) Scheme.
— Digital News Asia

RSAF’s anti-drone technologies in action this weekend in Jurong East
Fly a drone within 5km of an airbase, and you could find it taken down by one of the Republic of Singapore Air Force’s (RSAF) latest weapons.
— The Straits Times

Major Banks Pilot Successful Thailand-Singapore Blockchain Remittance
A joint effort by major banks in south-east Asia has led to a successful blockchain-powered cross-border funds transfer in real-time from Thailand to Singapore.
— CCN

Singapore’s inflation rate fell to 0.1% in April
Singapore’s headline inflation rate fell to 0.1 per cent in April compared to the 0.2 per cent recorded in March, according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) on Wednesday (May 23).
— Channel NewsAsia

Singapore Proposes Regulatory Boost for Decentralized Exchanges
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), the city-state’s de facto central bank, is proposing changes to existing regulations that would ease market entry for blockchain-based decentralized exchanges.
— CoinDesk

Fallen Singapore High-Flyer Starts Debt Restructure Process
Hyflux Ltd., the Singapore water treatment and power firm, has started a court-supervised debt reorganization process to protect the value of its business after reporting unprecedented losses.
— Bloomberg

India to ink pact with Singapore on public administration
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s forthcoming visit to Singapore will see India and the city-state signing an agreement for cooperation in personnel management and public administration.
— Deccan Herald

Bill received by Facebook user not a scam: Singtel
Read about a Singtel bill scam on Facebook lately?
It’s not a scam, the telco said in a statement on Wednesday (May 23), a day after a Facebook user’s post went viral online.
— Asia One

SCDF to introduce stiffer penalties for unauthorised activities, enhance feedback channels
The Singapore Civil Defence Force (SCDF) on Wednesday (May 23) announced a series of measures to guard against ragging and unauthorised activities within the force.
— Channel NewsAsia

Wider network, S$12m funding for programme supporting children from poor families
Lien Foundation will be investing S$12 million and boosting manpower to further expand an early childhood intervention programme it pioneered in 2013, to broaden the support pool and deepen the intervention care for children from low-income families.
— Today Online

Feature photo Michael Coghlan

Find our previous morning news feature photos in the AEC News Today Morning News Feature Photos gallery where you will find a pictorial display of daily life throughout the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

Singapore morning news by AEC News Today is your one stop source for Singapore news on matters of governance and policies affecting Asean business communities. It is published M-F by AEC News Today: Governance, not government; policies not politics.

Singapore Morning News For May 24 added by Leakhena Khat on May 24, 2018
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Leakhena Khat

Leakhena is a junior journalist at AEC News Today who is also currently studying International Relations, which she finds adds perspective to her work reporting on the Asean Community.

“I love what I am doing so much as it gives me a lot of great experience and provides challenges to my mind.