UK doubles export finance support for Singapore trade

THE UK government has announced that its export credit agency, UK Export Finance (UKEF), has doubled its capacity to support trade with Singapore up to £4.5 billion (S$8.3 billion), meaning an additional £2.25 billion in support for UK companies exporting to Singapore and for Singaporean buyers of UK goods and services.

And that's not all. To help make UK goods and services even more competitive for buyers in Singapore, UKEF has extended its local currency offering to include the Singapore dollar. So now when Singaporean companies want to source from the UK, they can "buy British, pay local" in their own currency, with finance backed by the UK government.

This will help take the already healthy Singapore-UK trade relationship to new levels. In 2016, Singapore was the UK's top destination for investment in Asean and its fifth largest export destination in Asia-Pacific - above larger countries such as South Korea and India. According to official Singapore statistics, the UK receives around one-third of Singapore's investment into the EU, amounting to £23.4 billion.