Brexit: minimum impact likely for Singapore

Brexit has dominated the world’s attention and street vocabulary. The British referendum on 23 June triggered a chain of events and reality that the “Stay” and “Leave” camps had not, and probably could not have, foreseen. Watching the turmoil that Brexit breathed into European and world events was like peeling a new layer daily to see what the British vote really meant.

In Singapore, the immediate mood was one of wide-eyed wonder, but staying calm and watching developments unfold – from the tumbling pound to the sombre reception then British PM David Cameron received at his final working meeting in Brussels after the vote. Following Cameron’s resignation, new leader Theresa May has kept mum about the specifics of negotiating Britain out of the EU as everyone faces the reality of an EU without the UK, or rather a UK without the EU.

What does Brexit hold for Singapore businesses? The widespread prognosis is one of uncertainty. On the one hand, the geographical distance does not entirely insulate us from the structure and workings of an intertwined global economy. On the other hand, it has been a few months since the UK referendum, but commerce in Asia is business as usual.

RONNIE TAN is managing director of Central Chambers Law Corporation. TWANG KERN ZERN and SARA LIEW, both equity directors at the firm, also contributed to this article.