Singapore's DBS bank said that unemployment rate in Singapore is expected to reach 4.8 percent by the end of 2009 and the situation may be worse in 2010, local media reported on Wednesday.

According to English newspaper the Straits Times, a recent report released by DBS said that a total of 99,000 workers could lose their jobs during the recession, and the manufacturing sector could lose some 58,000 jobs.

The country's largest bank said that unemployment rate is to reach 4.8 percent by the end of this year and peak at about 5 percent by the middle of 2010, which, according to the daily, is a "20-year high."

Official figure showed that Singapore's overall unemployment rate averaged 2.3 percent in 2008.

The report also estimated that Singapore's economy is likely to contract 4.8 percent this year.

Singapore's Ministry of Trade and Industry said in January that the country's gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2008 is estimated to have grown by 1.2 percent and the GDP is likely to be between minus 5.0 percent and minus 2.0 percent in 2009.

(Xinhua News Agency February 25, 2009)