Is now the right time for Singapore companies to expand abroad?

AS IT is an island, you can drive the entire circumference of Singapore in a few hours. Arguably, it is this smallness of Singapore as a market that explains why so many companies quickly seek expansion abroad.

Yet as one of the world's most trade-open economies, Singapore businesses are feeling the effects of economic headwinds and increasing global protectionism more acutely than regional counterparts.

HSBC's latest Navigator survey revealed that 65 per cent of Singapore businesses expect their sales to grow in the next 12 months, considerably below their global and Asia-Pacific counterparts, at 79 per cent and 77 per cent respectively.