The Evening Runway with Hongbin Jeong and Chua Tian Tian

As we enter a new year, small and medium enterprises, as well as mid-sized companies, are looking at a challenging future with geopolitical tensions, hyperinflation and supply chain disruptions. Will 2023 break the curse? Prime Time's Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish speak with Dr Rashimah Rajah, Lecturer of Management and Organisation at the National University of Singapore Business School to find out how finding the right talent can empower smaller firms. In the World Economic Forum’s report “Future Readiness of SMEs and Mid-sized Companies: A Year On”, co-lead author Dr Rajah advocates smaller firms to stand out in hiring by promoting their organisational values and use informality to their advantage. 

Consumers and businesses can now more easily spot companies that support better wages for lower-wage workers to buy goods and services from, by looking out for their Progressive Wage  Mark. The two-tier accreditation scheme was officially launched on Wednesday at an event held at Japanese apparel brand Uniqlo’s local flagship store at Orchard Central. Recommended by the Tripartite Workgroup on Lower-Wage Workers in August 2021, the mark is administered by the Singapore Business Federation on behalf of the three-way partnership between the Ministry of Manpower, National Trades Union Congress and Singapore National Employers Federation. In The Straits Times’ The Big Story, Multimedia Correspondent Cheow Sue-Ann spoke with Terence Ho, Associate Professor in Practice at the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy, National University of Singapore to find out more. 

The Chinese economy and market is at the front and centre of our discussion today, after the country announced its GDP figures earlier in the week.  If you recall, Gross Domestic Product was up 3% last year. While the figure beat an earlier Bloomberg forecast of 2.7%, it was far lower than the 8.4% in 2021 and below the official 5% target.  But with China reopening its doors to international tourists and dialling back its strict zero-COVID strategy, to what extent can the country stage a strong recovery given the frailing property market? Meanwhile, the Chinese government has reportedly been taking up “golden shares” in units of Alibaba Group and Tencent Holdings, how would that affect the closely watched tech sector? On Market View, Prime Time's finance presenter Chua Tian Tian posed these questions to Nicholas Yeo, Head of China Equities, at abrdn.

Countries at U.N talks in Uruguay in December, discussed a future global plastics treaty which would cut pollution, with the hope of doing so entirely by 2040. Over in Singapore, we are also doing our part to reduce plastic usage. A new compostable hawker centre - a first in Singapore - to use fully 100% biodegradable and compostable packaging and zero plastics single use disposable boxes opened at Sembawang late last year. In the Spotlight on Prime Time, Bharati Jagdish and Timothy Go speak with Kelly Tan, Managing Director of iGreen, to find out more about the effort and roadmap towards zero plastic at our hawker centres. Produced and edited by Anthea Ng (nganthea@sph.com.sg)

A breakneck surge in private residential rents hammered Singapore’s tenants with increases of about 21% in the first nine months of 2022, and the pain looks set to continue this year. Despite the pace slowing, analysts predict that rents are set to rise by another 10-15% this year. In Powering Your Property, Prime Time's Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish speak with Nicholas Mak, Head of Research and Consultancy, ERA Realty for his outlook for the private property sector here. 

We’ll put the focus on the state of the global economy today.  According to the International Monetary Fund, severe fragmentation of the global economy could reduce global economic output by up to 7%. But which will be the economies most affected by the change?  And with the World Economic Forum underway, to what extent could we expect the meeting to help policymakers navigate challenges in Europe? Closer to home, the Bank of Japan and Bank Indonesia are set to announce their rate decisions in the days ahead - but what can we expect and what will the central bank decision mean for the two economies? On Market View, Prime Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian sat down with Dr Felix Brill, Chief Investment Officer at VP Bank for more.

In the Spotlight on Prime Time every Monday, Bharati Jagdish and Timothy Go will speak with our friends from the BBC in London on some of the top stories they are tracking in the week ahead. This week, they are joined by Jonathan Frewin, Senior Journalist with BBC World Service Partner Hub in London to discuss China, with the new year travel rush  roaring back to life despite uncertainty around Covid-19, what can some countries outside China expect?  And on Friday, western defence ministers are gathering in Germany for a Ramstein meeting, to discuss the supply of weapons to Ukraine. What can we expect from that? Finally, a trial gets underway in Belarus of the opposition leader Svetlana Tikhanovskaya, one of the high profile trials in the country at the moment. Who is she, why is she going on trial and what is the significance of that?

An Institute of Policy Studies survey shows that different generations value different aspects of their jobs. Over 50 per cent would be willing to accept less pay or a lesser work role for the benefit of their family or personal life. In The Straits Times’ The Big Story, Multimedia Correspondent Cheow Sue-Ann spoke with Dr Laurel Teo, Senior Research Fellow at the Institute of Policy Studies to find out more about the study.  

Employers across Singapore appear to be investing in talent when it comes to sustainability-related initiatives. Prime Time's Timothy Go and Bharati Jagdish speak with Dr Noorashikin Rahman, Co-Lead for NP’s Personalised Learning Pathway (PLP) Minor in Sustainability to find out how they’re equipping the future talent pool with the right ESG skills. 

We’ll talk all about exchange traded funds today and in particular, we’re going to be talking about thematic ETFs. These are ETFs that are positioned to benefit from long term structural changes such as changes in technology, society, the environment and demographics over time.  And on that note, fund management company Global X ETFs has launched their December 2022 edition of the Thematic ETF Report.  The report provides industry-level analysis of thematic investing ETFs, looking at new launches and closures, changes in assets under management (AUM), and fund flows. So what are the key findings and how would they help us better position for 2023? On Market View, Prime Time’s finance presenter Chua Tian Tian spoke with Richard Siaw, Director Southeast Asia at Global X ETFs for more.