Your Way Home with Hongbin Jeong

Employment continued to rise in the third quarter but Singapore’s job market recovery showed signs of a “slowing momentum”, the Ministry of Manpower said on Friday, as retrenchments swung up and the unemployment rate climbed. In advance estimates for the quarter, MOM said total employment – excluding migrant domestic workers – rose 75,600 from the previous quarter. But there was a “slight uptick”...

Recognising the value of Deep Tech, Singapore has invested strongly in its development. In 2021, Singapore’s Temasek International announced that it would invest S$1 billion in deep tech every year. But central to all these is semiconductors. In The Spotlight, Prime Time’s Bharati Jagdish speaks with Eugene Fitzgerald, CEO and Director, Singapore-MIT Alliance for Research and Technology (SMART), M...

Southeast Asia’s digital economy is approaching US$200 billion in gross merchandise value in 2022, three years earlier than initially forecast in 2016, say Google, Temasek and Bain & Company at the release of their annual e-Conomy Southeast Asia report on Oct 27. Fueling this surge are some 100 million additional internet users that have come online in the past three years, with the digital po...

Singapore is headed for a troubling year in which economic growth will slow while inflation will remain elevated, in part because wage increases are expected to continue. The Monetary Authority of Singapore says global prices may come off their recent peaks but inflation here will remain higher in 2023 than the historical average. In The Straits Times’ The Big Story, Multimedia Correspondent Cheow...

Yesterday we talked about ongoing volatilities within mainland China and in Hong Kong. Today we’re going to continue that conversation, after China’s broad fiscal deficit hit an all-time high in the first nine months of this year.  Down under, inflation in Australia rose to 7.3% on-year in the third quarter - so what will it take for the Reserve Bank of Australia to keep prices in check?  And with...

With disruptions in global food supply chains due to the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, it once again shows how imperative it is for Singapore to protect its food resources. In The Spotlight, Prime Time’s Bharati Jagdish finds out more about how a company, founded by two tech professionals, is revolutionising Singapore’s agriculture industry with Chen Meiyue, Channel Manager, Archisen. Produced...

Covid-19 has caused a global reset, pushing many white-collar jobs to pivot to remote or hybrid work, but the situation looked very different for shift workers, given the industries they worked in were perhaps hit hardest by the pandemic. On Prime Time, host Bharati Jagdish speaks with Mat Ward, CEO, Workmate to find out how they are making a difference in the region's shift-based workforce and tr...

US tech earnings will likely continue to drive market action with major players such as Apple and Amazon reporting later in the week. Over in Europe, former British finance minister Rishi Sunak will succeed Liz Truss as the next UK Prime Minister after his rivals quit the race. But can investors there heave a sigh of relief just yet? Closer to home, Hong Kong’s shares took a beating earlier in the...

Singapore’s inflation numbers are at the heart of our discussion today. If you recall, core inflation rose to 5.3% year on year in September, higher than the near 14-year high of 5.1% on-year in August.  Headline inflation, on the other hand, remained at  7.5% on-year, unchanged from that in August. But beyond the actual figures, what’s also important is how the people in the city state view infla...

A world-renowned hospitality business university in Switzerland has architecturally transformed their 86,000 square-feet campus to reduce the risk of climate change. With campuses in Singapore and Switzerland, how exactly did this university achieve such large-scale sustainability success in multiple continents? In The Spotlight, Prime Time's Bharati Jagdish speaks with Dr Luciano Lopez, Dean of E...

The Government says Singapore has raised its climate ambition, committing to net-zero emissions by 2050. In The Straits Times’ The Big Story, Multimedia Correspondent Cheow Sue-Ann speaks with Melissa Low, a research fellow at the National University of Singapore’s Centre for Nature-based Climate Solutions on how Singapore can reach this ambitious goal. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy info...

October is Cybersecurity Awareness Month, so we continue our conversation on cybersecurity issues with a focus on a new approach to better protect against ransomware. As cybercriminals seek out loopholes in operational processes, how can businesses prepare themselves for the next barrage of ransomware attacks? In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Bharat Jagdish speaks with Chua Chee Pin, Area Vice Pres...

 The fintech sector is thriving globally and locally. It has also brought about disruptive innovations to several industries, increasing the demand for fintech talents worldwide. How can companies continue to hire tech talent for the region? On Prime Time, host Bharati Jagdish speaks with Harsh Sinha, Chief Technology Officer, Wise to find out. See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

We wrapped up the week by looking at markets in the US, Asia, as well as a number of notable currency moves.  Increasingly, analysts say there may be opportunities in the market, and in particular small cap growth stocks amid the current economic climate. But why is this the case, and what should we be looking out for? In the meantime, brighter days are ahead for the Asia Pacific region as well, w...

COE premiums for all categories are all up in the latest bidding out yesterday, with motorcycle COE price hitting a new high of over $12,800. This comes before the kickoff of the lower COE quota between November and January 2023. Singaporean car owners are looking at other options such as car renting and car sharing. In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Bharati Jagdish dives deeper into the car sharing...

Businesses and IT leaders have cited infrastructure management as an increasing drain on their resources. More than ever, it is crucial that new technology helps CIOs in their jobs, rather than pile on their workload. On Prime Time, host Bharati Jagdish speaks with Gina Wong, Kyndryl’s Managing Director, Singapore to find out how the right technology can enable more proactive management of complex...

According to the firm, East Ventures was named the most consistent top performing VC fund around the world, as well as the most active investor in Southeast Asia and Indonesia by Preqin.  It is also the first investor for Indonesia’s unicorn companies Tokopedia and Traveloka, and some companies in its portfolio included Shopback, Kudo and Tech in Asia. The VC firm seems to be fairly active in the...

Malaysians will go to the polls on Nov 19 for their 15th General Election. In the Straits Times The Big Story, Multimedia Correspondent, Hairianto Diman speaks with Dr Francis Hutchinson, a senior fellow and coordinator of the Malaysia Studies Programme at the ISEAS - Yusof Ishak Institute, for more.  See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

With the earnings season well underway, investors in the US continue to comb through a number of reports from big names including the Bank of America, United Airlines, Netflix and Hasbro for clues on how inflation have eaten into top and bottom lines, while they await more companies such as P&G to report later in the week. Elsewhere, European markets edged higher on Monday after Britain’s new...

In the Spotlight on Prime Time, we focus on the private tutor industry in Singapore. In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Bharati Jagdish speaks with Nicolette Ng, Director, Write Edge, to find out how this former public relations executive turned 7-chain Creative Writing Tuition Centre owner is paving the way for new private tutors.  Produced and edited by Anthea Ng ( nganthea@sph.com.sg ) See omnystu...

Digital transformation and data security have been hot topics for some time. However, the Covid-19 pandemic has acted as a catalyst for digital transformation in more ways than one. And with the popularity of cryptocurrency and digital banking, what is critical in data security as data interacts between existing banks, fintechs and digital only banks? Prime TIme's Bharati Jagdish speaks with Nils...

 As Singapore strengthens its position as a global hub for talent, how can organisations win the war for talent and what kind of best practices and comparisons can be made with how companies in the west are faring? On Career360, Prime Time's Bharati Jagdish speaks with Jonathan Graham, partner in Heidrick & Struggles' Chicago and New York office  and David Hui, Partner in Charge, Heidrick &amp...

Asian economies are at the front and centre of our discussion today. Over in China, President Xi Jinping delivered a wide-ranging speech at the 20th National Congress of the Communist Party on Sunday where he laid out the party’s plans for the next five years.  The speech, which lasted for around 2 hours, covered a range of topics from Taiwan to the country’s plans to support development, economic...

Opening the door to higher returns for more people, in the Spotlight on Prime Time, Bharati Jagdish speaks with Kit Toh, Head of Partnerships, Asia Pacific at Moonfare about a new era of private equity with their emphasis on inclusivity. Produced and edited by Anthea Ng ( nganthea@sph.com.sg ) See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Executive condominiums prices are now at a record high. Almost 300 resale ECs have yielded profits of at least half a million dollars. On Powering Your Property, Prime Time's Bharati Jagdish finds out how windfalls from resale exec condos make them an alluring buy for HDB upgraders with Christine Sun, Senior Vice President of Research & Analytics, OrangeTee & Tie . Highlights from the conv...