P.R. Venkat
Dow Jones Newswires
The Singapore government said Monday that it will extend the financial support programs for local companies by a year to 2011 to maintain continuity to sustain the nation’s nascent economic recovery.
“The extension will be on revised terms, taking into account improvements in the global economic situation and the Singapore economy,” a joint statement by the Ministry Of Trade and Industry and the Ministry of Finance said.
The government expects to support up to S$8.4 billion in new loans from February 2010 to end-January 2011. But it also noted that the global economic outlook no longer poses a grave risk to the domestic economy.
The government introduced a S$20.5 billion stimulus package in January this year at the height of the economic downturn in an effort to cushion the blow to the export-dependent island state. Part of the package was a S$5.8 billion measure to stimulate bank lending.