WITH tightened "circuit-breaker" measures that have also been extended through to June 1, economists have pencilled in a deeper recession in Singapore for 2020.

The extension of a near-lockdown implies "significant economic hardship", said OCBC economist Selena Ling, who projected that a more severe recession this year that brings a GDP contraction of between 6 and 10 per cent from a year ago cannot be ruled out for Singapore.

A 10 per cent GDP contraction assumes that a recovery timing may be delayed as businesses and consumer confidence remain dented into the third quarter of this year, and any stabilisation in the second half is even more subdued than earlier expected.