Singapore

Singapore (VNA) – Singapore’s retail sales in February fell by 8.6 percent year-on-year, compared to the 5.3 percent reduction in the previous month, according to the country’s Department of Statistics. On a seasonally adjusted basis, the retail sales declined by 8.9 percent month on month in February, compared to the 0.2 percent increase in January, the department said on April 3. Excluding motor vehicles, retail sales in February decreased by 10.2 percent year on year and 11.2 percent month on month. The estimated total retail sales value this February was about 3.1 billion SGD (2.16 billion USD). Of these, the proportion of online sales was 7.4 percent. The authority attributed the retail sales decrease mainly to larger year-on-year declines in retail industries selling discretionary items, due to the decline in tourist arrivals and lower domestic consumption as a result of the COVID-19 outbreak. It also announced that the sales of food and beverage services … [Read more...] about Singapore’s retail sales down 8.6 percent in February

Hanoi (VNA) – Millions of labourers in Southeast Asia could lose their jobs as economies grind to a halt due to impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, according to a report by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP). In the policy paper on the Asia Pacific region issued on March 26, ESCAP noted that while exact data on the impact of the pandemic on employment remained unavailable, the impact is likely to be substantial as services and labour-intensive manufacturing comprise over 80 percent of the region's informal sector and small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and contribute to most of the jobs in the region. The report stressed the need for countries with weak social protection systems to have ample policy space to save jobs and support minimum living standards for households. Meanwhile, in its report issued on April 3, the Asia Development Bank projected that growth in Southeast Asia will decelerate from 4.4 percent in 2019 to 1 percent … [Read more...] about COVID-19 to force millions of Southeast Asian labourers to lose jobs

Thailand is giving a 5,000 baht (USD 150) monthly support for three months to some nine million informal or self-employed workers. Singapore's supplementary budget worth some SGD 48 billion (USD 33.36 billion) pays unemployed workers SGD 800 a month, for three months, to help them look for a new job or undergo training. … [Read more...] about COVID-19 to force millions of Southeast Asian laborers to lose jobs

The need to stop the potential spread of the COVID-19 has prompted the government to impose a 15-day social distancing measure which began on April 1, with all people requested to remain indoors as much as possible. One of the partial aims of the policy is to prevent healthy people from coming into direct contact with unknown COVID-19 cases. … [Read more...] about Only one new case of COVID-19 reported in Vietnam today

Though informal - and illegal - motorbike street racing, and a nascent offroad racing scene have started to gain traction in Vietnam, Formula One has yet to take hold among the mainstream of sports fans, most of whom are football-mad.  … [Read more...] about Vietnam to host F1 race in 2020