Singapore's economy will recover, and e-wallets are expected to replace credit cards

Cushman & Wakefield reported that Singapore's economy is expected to return to pre -pandemic levels in the fourth quarter of 2021 , becoming one of the key growth markets in the Asia-Pacific region.

The 2021 quarterly report pointed out that changes in Singapore’s logistics market are closely related to the accelerated growth of e-commerce and shifting consumer preferences .

In addition, as the logistics ceiling rates have been tightened, driven by favorable factors , investment demand in the industrial real estate industry will further expand .

Shaun Poh, executive director of capital markets at Cushman & Wakefield, said : " As the office sector bottoms out, logistics and residential capital markets have improved and liquidity is expected to accelerate towards the end of the year . "

At the same time, total real estate investment in the Asia-Pacific region is also expected to rebound .

“Asia Pacific is leading the global economic recovery, with investment activity rebounding amid positive momentum from a surge in investment in the fourth quarter of 2020 and stronger investor confidence, ” the real estate company said .

E-wallets were also affected during the epidemic.

E-wallets are expected to overtake credit cards as the most popular online payment method in Singapore by 2024, FIS said in its 2021 Global Payments Report.

In 2020, the most popular online payment methods in Singapore are credit cards ( 45%) , digital wallets ( 20%) and bank transfers (12%). It is worth mentioning that the fastest growing online payment method is buy now, pay later , which currently accounts for 3% of the share but is expected to grow to 13% by 2024.

The report noted that credit cards remain the preferred payment method for Singaporeans when making in-store purchases, accounting for 38% of transactions in 2020, and are expected to maintain this market share by 2024. Cash usage is expected to decline rapidly over the next four years, while e-wallets such as Singtel Dash, DBS PayLah and Apple Pay are expected to grow to 20% of the POS market by 2024.

The report shows that driven by the epidemic , Singapore's e-commerce market reached US$7 billion in 2020 , and this figure will grow by about 40% in the next four years driven by online shopping .

Singapore

Southeast Asia