Singapore firms to spend on expansion, IT: survey

SINGAPORE business leaders are now slightly less optimistic in their outlook on economic expansion, although they intend to invest more in new markets and technology.

This is according to the eighth annual American Express/CFO Research Global Business and Spending Monitor (GBSM), a survey of senior finance and corporate executives from companies with revenues exceeding US$500 million. The report, titled "Selective Spending in Pursuit of Growth", found that 70 per cent of business leaders in Singapore predict that the economy will continue growing over the next year. This is a 12-point decrease from the local growth expectations reported at the beginning of 2014, but is still close to this year's global average expectation of 71 per cent.

The decrease can be attributed to higher hiring and rental costs, increased competition, as well as the overall slowdown of the global economy, according to Nigel Fox, American Express's vice-president of global corporate payments for Singapore. However, almost 90 per cent of the local respondents intend to increase spending this year, with almost half intending to increase spending by at least 10 per cent.