Protecting SMEs against risk
SMEs play a dynamic role, contributing to almost half of Singapore's GDP, but one in seven small firms remain uninsured.
SMALL and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) make up 99 per cent of all businesses in Singapore, employ 70 per cent of the country's total workforce and contribute to nearly half of its Gross Domestic Product. These numbers highlight the integral role that SMEs combine to play in Singapore's economy, but also emphasise the need for them to remain robust and insulated against risk.
Yet, despite their fundamental importance to the national business context, it seems that many SMEs here remain dangerously underprepared for dealing with common business problems - risks which, if continuously ignored or underestimated, threaten their very survival.
These issues are made more problematic by increasing macroeconomic uncertainty, as Chinese growth slows and oil prices bottom out while, closer to home, local firms operate against manpower-lean policies and an ageing workforce.
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