THE worst since independence.
That, so far, has been the catchphrase to describe the recession facing Singapore.
But in an exclusive interview with the BBC, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has gone one step further, saying that Singapore is facing its worst economic crisis since World War II.
Singapore's exports are falling at their fastest rate since records began - sliding 35 per cent in January and 24 per cent last month.
Some experts fear the economy will contract by up to 10per cent this year.
In the interview with the BBC's South-east Asia correspondent, Mr Jonathan Head, PM Lee explained how Singapore will cope.
PM Lee: I think it's the most severe since the war.
We've had ups and down before, but this one is not only much sharper and deeper but, I think, qualitatively different because it's a worldwide problem... It's not just a cyclical recession but a financial crisis of the whole global financial system.
Mr Head: Your government has taken a number of unprecedented measures, a huge $20 billion stimulus package, dipping into your reserves for the first time... Are these measures enough, you think, to compensate for the impact of this crisis?
PM Lee: They will help us to reduce unemployment, reduce job losses... they will help companies to remain viable.
But we must understand that what we can do is to buffer the impact. You must wait for the storm to pass.
Mr Head: Do you think this region has been too complacent about its dependence on Western markets in the past?
PM Lee: We've had no choice. I mean, the whole world is plugged in as one globalised world. Consumption, the markets are in America. India and China have been growing rapidly and their markets have been growing rapidly.
But on the world scale, they are still very small, and maybe one-third, one-tenth of the American and European markets put together.
Mr Head: But has there been a failure to focus on developing domestic markets in the Asia-Pacific region, among your neighbours...?
PM Lee: I think big domestic markets, if you're looking at it, will be China and India. The way to develop the markets will be to raise their standards of living, then they have the money to consume.
Mr Head: Looking here at Singapore, what can I understand from you about the huge paper losses that have been made in the two big sovereign wealth funds here, in Temasek and GIC, because on paper, they've done very badly over the last year.
PM Lee: Well, the value of the portfolios have gone down... 20, 25 per cent... everyone has taken a hit, whether you are Harvard, Yale, Stanford or the Norwegians.
If you're in the markets, you have to ride the ups and downs.
Mr Head: Your own family has been quite involved in these funds. Your wife, until recently, ran Temask. Your father's deeply involved in GIC.
Is there a risk that when the news is bad, as it has been over the past year for these funds, that people will tend to blame your family rather than look at the institutions?
PM Lee: I think the way you put it is not the way things work in Singapore.
Minister Mentor is chairman of GIC not because he's my father... it's because he's the best man for the job and he has been chairman since he was prime minister.
And Ho Ching is CEO of Temasek not because she's my wife but because the chairman of Temasek, who is Mr Dhanabalan, and the board decided that they wanted to appoint her as CEO.
And they are there as long as they are effective, performing, and if they don't perform well, they have to take up consequences.
Mr Head: I think you are talking about perception, and perception is important in politics.
In difficult times like this, do you think that, in retrospect, it might have been better for your family just to have a lower profile?
PM Lee: (Laughs) Life would be much easier for me if the Minister Mentor is not my father and Ho Ching is not my wife.
But they are there... this is the way Singapore has worked. I think Singaporeans have understood that this is how the system works, and they will render judgment when elections come.
