'Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Singapore’s overall economy had previously contracted in 2020. However, the economy has shown a strong recovery in 2021 growing.'

The Republic of Singapore is a metropolitan city-state and island country in Southeast Asia with a total land area of an estimated 714 square kilometres. It is situated at the southern tip of the Malayan Peninsula, between Malaysia and Indonesia.

With an economy supported by its population of approximately 5.45 million people, Singapore has witnessed consistent economic growth throughout the years and is prominent in the financial services, energy and infrastructure, biotechnology and tourism, medical tourism and information and communications technologies.
 
Due to the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Singapore’s overall economy had previously contracted by 5.4% in 2020. However, the economy has shown a strong recovery in 2021 growing by 7.2%.

Unlike 2020, the RevPAR and Room Revenue shows slight improvement growing at 0.7% and 2.7% respectively. Overall, the market held stable in the headwinds resisting further downward pressure in 2021.

The two largest single origin source market remained China and India with their share growing from 16.6% and 12.9% to 26.7% and 16.5% respectively.

Despite the market remaining soft, we are optimistic that the end of 2021 will spark the phase of recovery as the government goes into the “endemic Covid” stance and we enter into a new normal.  We also expect a recovery of visitors in 2022 as the government has negotiated a total of 27 vaccinated travel lanes (VTLs) by November 2021.

Source: HVS Research

Economic Outlook 

In 2021, Singapore showed a strong recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic with a 7.2% growth in GDP. Singapore has reaffirmed the “endemic covid” stance and has moved to rapidly vaccinate the population with 82.9% of the population having been vaccinated by 31 December 2021.

In 2022-23, the authorities are expected to focus on job creation and improving low earners’ income as well as upskilling the workforce.

The economic impact of COVID-19 is expected to be much less pronounced than in 2020-2021. The GDP is expected to grow by 3.8% in 2022 and that the electronics, chemicals and advanced manufacturing sectors will remain as important drivers in the performance of Singapore in 2022. 

Figure 1: Economic Outlook

Source: Economist Intelligence Unit, January 2022

Economic Performance & Outlook

Singapore has one of the highest levels of GDP in Asia. Singapore’s economy is highly dependent on the global economic outlook as transshipment plays an important role in its economy.

As the world moves towards a COVID endemic stance, we expect world trade and economy to improve. GDP is projected to grow by 3.8% in 2022. With a total number of 27 vaccinated travel lanes as of December 2021, we are hopeful that the hospitality industry is on the road to recovery. 

Read the full report here