The cancellation of this year's Singapore Grand Prix will be a double whammy to the local economy that is already hit hard by the coronavirus pandemic, analysts told The Straits Times yesterday.

Citing the decline in inbound tourists from a monthly average of more than a million to fewer than a thousand in April, and the resulting dip in hotel occupancy rates, CIMB Private Banking economist Song Seng Wun predicted that the country's economy will contract by 5 per cent year on year in the third quarter, after also taking into account the absence of the Sept 20 Singapore race.