Singapore pledges to tackles recession

The Singaporean Government is to introduce a series of measures aimed at improving prospects for the country's economy.

The move comes after figures released on Tuesday showed that Singapore had slipped into recession.

Details of the new financial package are due to be released later this month.

Singapore's trade minister, George Yeo, said the measures would not be on the same scale as a $5.5bn economic package implemented at the height of the Asian financial crisis in 1998.

Mr Yeo said the previous measures had been aimed at restructuring the economy to make it more competitive, whereas Singapore had now largely been hit by a global fall in demand for products and services.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service