SINGAPORE: It has been just about a month since the first case of COVID-19 landed in Singapore, but Ms Patricia Zhuang has already had her pay cut by half, to just under S$1,000.
The plight of Ms Zhuang and Mr Xu was not uncommon among retail and F&B employees, based on our visits to eight different locations across the island this past week to find out how businesses in these sectors were coping with the economic fallout of the COVID-19 outbreak.for Singapore to between -0.5 per cent and 1.5 per cent — with a possible recession — from an initial projection of between 0.5 per cent and 2.5 per cent.
Mr Kelvin Wai, owner of Evergreen Handphone Shop at Simei, said the travel restrictions had also affected his business as 20 per cent of his customers were Chinese tourists who bought mobile phone SIM cards. He has stopped ordering new stock with business down by 40 per cent. At Japanese buffet restaurant Kuishin Bo, staff could be seen standing around, tending to only a handful of customers during the lunch hour.
During a visit to apparel store Ns’ Boutique at Novena Square at 2pm on Wednesday, its director Ms Chrislyn Ng said the store had not managed a single sale since it opened at 10.30am. Several workers also voiced fears about losing their jobs if their companies continue to be battered over the next few months.
For Ms Michelle Chin, 49, it is not just the malls she is avoiding. She has also stopped going to her church in Bukit Batok. To reduce the risk of exposure to the virus, Ms Doreen Yeow started working from home whenever possible even before her workplace made it official. The packages dwarf the S$230 million package introduced during the SARS crisis in 2003, and significantly exceeded analysts’ expectations of at least a S$500 million package. meant for businesses and workers affected by the COVID-19 outbreak.A S$1.3 billion Jobs Support Scheme where the Government will pay for 8 per cent of the wages of local employees, up to a monthly cap of S$3,600, for three months.
“Savings from the tax rebates are nothing to me … We are talking about occupancy costs as high as 70 to 80 per cent now,” said Mr R Dhinakaran, president of the Singapore Retailers Association .If developers do not provide a direct rebate on rent, a potential consequence would be the closures of several retailers, causing the malls to be empty, he noted.
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