The government has shot down proposals to build a casino to help solve Singapore's economic woes, media in Singapore reported yesterday.
Two ministers pointed to the adverse social consequences and cited law and order issues accompanying gambling, the Straits Times said.
The Tourism Working Group, a government-appointed task force, recently recommended that casinos be legalized, arguing that gambling would help double tourism revenue within 10 years.
"We've studied this many times, and every time there's a recession, somebody thinks it might be a good idea," Deputy Prime Minister Lee Hsien-loong was quoted as saying. "But I think we have to consider the social implications."
He said that he opposed a change in gambling laws.
Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan-seng said that a casino would not boost tourism.
Arrivals in Singapore have been falling since April and are considered likely to drop further.
Casino proponents note that Singaporeans already spend heavily on a lottery, horse racing and in cruise ship casinos.
"Casinos are not the solution," Wong said. "The solution ... is to ensure that the whole region remains stable, which means that the countries in the region must take very strong action against terrorist groups and terrorists."
Meanwhile, the prospect of war in the Middle East and prevailing weakness in the world's major economies could force Singapore to trim its growth forecasts for the year, Lee said.
"I think if you look forward, it's a very uncertain outlook," the deputy prime minister told local reporters over the weekend. "Our exports are not so strong, therefore our growth will be affected too," the Straits Times quoted him as saying.
The Singapore economy is officially projected to grow 3 percent to 4 percent this year after slumping to its worst ever downturn last year when gross domestic product shrank 2 percent.
However, preliminary estimates released early this month showed GDP in the third quarter to September fell 10.3 percent compared with 13.2 percent growth in the second quarter, triggering fears Singapore could be headed for another downturn after last year's recession.
The tiny island-state's fortunes are heavily dependent on exports particularly to the US and other major economies including Japan and the EU.
"I think it's very unlikely that you'll have a strong recovery in America," said Lee, who is also the finance minister and chairman of the central bank.
"There's no prospect of a strong pickup in Japan and the Europeans are also going down rather than going up in the business cycle," Lee said.
REMINDER: Of the 6.78 million doses of flu vaccine Taiwan purchased for this flu season, about 200,000 are still available, an official said, following Big S’ death As news broke of the death of Taiwanese actress and singer Barbie Hsu (徐熙媛), also known as Big S (大S), from severe flu complications, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and doctors yesterday urged people at high risk to get vaccinated and be alert to signs of severe illness. Hsu’s family yesterday confirmed that the actress died on a family holiday in Japan due to pneumonia during the Lunar New Year holiday. CDC Deputy Director-General Tseng Shu-hui (曾淑慧) told an impromptu news conference that hospital visits for flu-like illnesses from Jan. 19 to Jan. 25 reached 162,352 — the highest
COMBINING FORCES: The 66th Marine Brigade would support the 202nd Military Police Command in its defense of Taipei against ‘decapitation strikes,’ a source said The Marine Corps has deployed more than 100 soldiers and officers of the 66th Marine Brigade to Taipei International Airport (Songshan airport) as part of an effort to bolster defenses around the capital, a source with knowledge of the matter said yesterday. Two weeks ago, a military source said that the Ministry of National Defense ordered the Marine Corps to increase soldier deployments in the Taipei area. The 66th Marine Brigade has been tasked with protecting key areas in Taipei, with the 202nd Military Police Command also continuing to defend the capital. That came after a 2017 decision by the ministry to station
TRIP TO TAIWAN: The resumption of group tours from China should be discussed between the two agencies tasked with handling cross-strait tourism, the MAC said President William Lai (賴清德) yesterday reassured China-based businesspeople that he would follow former president Tsai Ing-wen’s (蔡英文) cross-strait policy to facilitate healthy and orderly exchanges with Beijing and build a resilient economy. “As president, I have three missions. First, I will follow president Tsai’s ‘four commitments’ to ensure that the country continues to exist and survive,” Lai told participants at a Lunar New Year event in Taipei hosted by the Straits Exchange Foundation (SEF). Lai said his second mission is to uphold the “four pillars of peace” by bolstering national defense, developing a growing and resilient economy, building partnerships with
‘INVESTMENT’: Rubio and Arevalo said they discussed the value of democracy, and Rubio thanked the president for Guatemala’s strong diplomatic relationship with Taiwan Guatemalan President Bernardo Arevalo met with US Secretary of State Marco Rubio in Guatemala City on Wednesday where they signed a deal for Guatemala to accept migrants deported from the US, while Rubio commended Guatemala for its support for Taiwan and said the US would do all it can to facilitate greater Taiwanese investment in Guatemala. Under the migrant agreement announced by Arevalo, the deportees would be returned to their home countries at US expense. It is the second deportation deal that Rubio has reached during a Central America trip that has been focused mainly on immigration. Arevalo said his