Singapore

Singapore's key consumer price gauge rose 1.9% in November on a yearly basis, lower than economists' forecasts and the smallest rise in nearly three years, official data showed on Monday, Reuters reported. It was the smallest rise since November 2021, when it climbed by 1.6%. Headline inflation was 1.6% in annual terms in November. The Monetary Authority of Singapore had forecast core inflation to be around 2% in the fourth quarter.

WeWork Inc. is giving up space in two prime locations in Singapore, underscoring the company’s challenges in one of its most promising markets, Bloomberg News reported. One co-working space spanning the 17th to 20th floors at Manulife Tower along Singapore’s 8 Cross Street has ended operations. Another three-floor space in an office building at 83 Clemenceau Avenue on the city center fringe will close next year. A WeWork spokesperson said in a statement that despite Singapore being a “priority market,” it has “made the difficult decision” not to renew leases at the two locations.

A Singapore oil magnate was sentenced Monday to 17.5 years in prison for fraud and forgery in a case that prosecutors said has tarnished the city-state's reputation as Asia’s leading oil trading hub, the Associated Press reported. Lim Oon Kuin was convicted in May on two counts of cheating the Hongkong and Shanghai Banking Corp. (HSBC) and one of abetting forgery. The court found Lim used forged documents on two bogus oil transactions to deceive HSBC into disbursing credit totaling $111.7 million, in one of the biggest cases of trade financing fraud in Singapore.

Filing for insolvency will soon be simpler and more cost-effective as Singapore moves to revamp and make permanent the Simplified Insolvency Programme (SIP), the Singapore Business Review reported. The government, through the Insolvency, Restructuring and Dissolution (Amendment) Bill, has put forward changes to the Simplified Debt Restructuring Programme (SDRP) and Simplified Winding Up Programme (SWUP) under the SIP.

Slightly over two-fifths of the bankruptcy orders in the first half of 2024 were due to business failures, with debtors borrowing from various sources including banks, credit card issuers, licensed moneylenders and private individuals, the Straits Times reported. This was stated by Minister of State for Trade and Industry and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) board member Alvin Tan in Parliament on Oct 16. He was responding to two questions by Mr Derrick Goh (Nee Soon GRC) and labour MP Melvin Yong (Radin Mas) on the causes for the rising number of bankruptcies in Singapore.

Singapore oil tycoon Lim Oon Kuin will be sentenced on November 18 for cheating and forgery in one of the biggest trading scandals to rattle the energy-trading hub, Bloomberg News reported. In a Singapore court on Tuesday, public prosecutor Christopher Ong argued for a 20-year jail sentence for Lim on three counts, including instigating forgery and deceiving HSBC Holdings Plc. Lim’s defence lawyers led by Davinder Singh sought a 7-year period. The sentence is the latest development in the dramatic downfall of the founder of now-defunct oil company Hin Leong Trading Pte.

Singapore’s High Court approved former oil tycoon Lim Oon Kuin’s agreements to pay about $3.59 billion to the liquidators of his company and creditor HSBC Holdings Plc, ending the multi-year civil cases against him and his family, Bloomberg News reported. The Lims didn’t admit liability. They will pay the sum with interest and costs in the consent judgments agreed in court proceedings on Monday. OK Lim and his children Evan Lim Chee Meng and Lim Huey Ching will file for bankruptcy, they said in separate statements.