For factory operations manager Steven (not his real name), making ends meet each month has been touch and go for as long as he can remember.

Somehow, the 56-year-old said, he has gotten by.

But two months ago, battered by rising prices for everything from rice to electricity and with the bills piling up, he did something he has never done before.

He took a gold bracelet and necklace belonging to his wife, and hocked it to a pawnshop in Bedok North for S$800 (US$540).

“I did not have to do it before, but the cost of everything went up and this made my expenses exceed budget,” the father of two said. “It has been tight in the past,” he added, “but not this tight.”

Like Steven, many other Singaporeans, hit hard by inflation and a slowing economy, are making a beeline for pawnshops.

Business for pawnshop owners has risen by up to 20 per cent in the last three months, said the chairman of the Singapore Pawnbroker’s Association, Mr Ivan Ho.

SpeedCash - a pawn service offered by Singapore Post with six outlets here - also said business has risen, but declined to give figures.

Once again, say economists, pawnshops are proving to be a reliable bellwether of the state of the economy.

It runs like clockwork, said CIMB-GK economist Song Seng Wun.

“When there is an economic crisis, pawnbrokers see an increase in business as people look for ways to get fast cash. When the economy is good, they don’t do as well.”

If pawnbrokers’ forecasts are correct, things are going to get worse.

With Singapore slipping into a technical recession - its first in six years - and world financial markets teetering, more people are facing hard times, and many pawnshop owners say that they expect business to get better towards the end of the year and the early part of next year.

At Shing Heng Pawnshop at Woodlands Centre, manager Freddie Liew now sees about 15 new customers a day, up from about half that number two months ago.

Said the 34-year-old Liew: “Many of these customers say they now don’t need jewellery. They want cash to keep their family business afloat or for personal use.”

It is the same story at other pawnshops.

At Woodlands Street 31, Thye Eik Pawnshop sees about four new faces a day now, up from fewer than one a day three months ago.

“Customers tell us they were just getting by when the economy was good, but now with prices of everything going up, they have no choice but to come to us,” said manager Steven Chong, 36.

“Then there are those whose investments or businesses have failed.”

The main item pawned: gold, which has served as a safe haven for investors in times of economic stress due to its relatively stable value.

CIMB-GK’s Song said gold is normally the first item people pawn because they know they can get good value for it, and it is always in demand.

Ho of the Singapore Pawnbroker’s Association said that many people who had cash to spare in the past had invested in the precious metal, and they were rewarded when prices began to rise.

Now, he said, “with things like property prices and shares plunging sharply, people need cash to tide them over”, and they are turning to pawnshops.

For people like Madam Zarina Atan, 43, it is often a stop of last resort.

“I need money and I don’t want to borrow from friends. Everything costs so much now. I plan to get it back when my bonus comes,” said the mother of five, who pawned a gold bracelet for S$460 (US$310).

Another pawnshop first-timer, cleaner Mohammed Saad Byahaya, was in even more desperate straits.

He pawned his gold ring for S$25 (US$17).

“I need money to top up my ez-link card,” he explained. (By JESSICA LIM In Singapore/ The Straits Times/ AsiaNews)