3.

Singapore, an island country in Southeast Asia, is located off the southern edge of the Malay Peninsula,
between Malaysia and Indonesia. Its official languages are English, Malay, Chinese, and Tamil, and the
currency is the Singapore dollar (SGD).

Singapore is one of the world's most prosperous countries, with strong international trading links (its
port is one of the world's busiest in terms of tonnage handled) and with a per capita gross domestic
product (GDP) comparable to or exceeding that of many nations in Western Europe.

Singapore has a highly developed and successful free-market economy. The economy depends heavily
on exports, particularly in information technology products and pharmaceuticals, as well as a vibrant
financial services sector. Based on a November 2019 forecast, GDP growth in 2020 is expected to range
between 0.5% and 2.5%, improving slightly from 2019’s GDP growth of 0.7%. This reflects improvements
in the growth outlook for emerging market and developing economies.

Forming the core of downtown Singapore is the Colonial District. Each surrounding enclave has its own
distinct flavor, from the aromatic spice stores of Little India, to the tumbledown backstreets of
Chinatown, where it is still possible to find calligraphers and fortune tellers, or the Arab Quarter, whose
cluttered stores sell fine cloths and silks.

North of the city, are two nature preserves, Bukit Timah and the Central Catchment Area, along with the
splendid Singapore Zoological Gardens. The east coast features good seafood restaurants set on long
stretches of sandy beach. In addition there are over fifty islands and islets within Singaporean waters, all
of which can be reached with varying degrees of ease. Day trips are popular to Sentosa, the island
amusement arcade which is linked to the south coast by a short causeway and cable car. Music, theater,
nightlife: all are abundant in this remarkable city. Singapore used to be considered a "stop over" on the
way to larger Asian cities. This is no longer true! Visitors seek out Singapore for business and finance and
also for a fascinating and satisfying vacation for the whole family.

Singapore is both an island and a country, but perhaps its best description is that of city-state. Like the
great city-states of the past, it offers civilization and order in the highest degree. Its combination of
Western-style development and Eastern-style calm seems to present the best of both hemispheres: It's
a modern metropolis where you feel safe walking the streets, and it's an Asian business center that's a
model of efficiency. Singapore is also a multicultural city, and close to one-quarter of its population are
expatriates or foreign workers from all over the world. Known for its desire to become the technology
hub of Asia, Singapore is the most wired country in the region.

3.2
Singapore is a high-income economy with a gross national income of US$54,530 per capita, as of 2017.
The country provides one of the world’s most business-friendly regulatory environment for local
entrepreneurs and is ranked among the world’s most competitive economies.

In the decades after independence, Singapore rapidly developed from a low-income country to a high-
income country. GDP growth in the city-state has been amongst the world’s highest, at an average of
7.7% since independence and topping 9.2% in the first 25 years.

After rapid industrialization in the 1960s catapulted the island nation’s development trajectory,
manufacturing became the main driver of growth. In the early 1970s, Singapore reached full
employment and joined the ranks of Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan a decade later as Asia’s newly
industrializing countries. The manufacturing and services sectors remain the twin pillars of Singapore’s
high value-added economy.

The overall growth of the Singapore economy was 3.2% in 2018. Value-added manufacturing,
particularly in the electronics and precision engineering sectors, remain key drivers of growth, as are the
services sector, particularly the information and communications industries, which grew 6.0% year-on-
year, and the finance & insurance industries, which grew 5.9% year-on-year. Economic growth is
expected to moderate in 2019, with the government forecasting a range of 1.5% to 3.5%, projecting the
rate to be slightly below the middle of the forecast range.

In 2017, Singapore launched the regional finance hub ‘Asia’s Infrastructure Exchange’: “the go-to place
where infrastructure demand and supply can connect, where infrastructure expertise and financing can
be obtained and infrastructure needs are met.” In its announcement, the government highlighted the
country’s strong ecosystem, one that integrates infrastructure players along the whole value chain –
multilateral banks, private financiers, lawyers, accountants, engineers and other professional services.

In the most recent World Bank Human Capital Index, Singapore ranks the best country in the world in
human capital development. This means that a child born today in Singapore will be 88% as productive
when she grows up, as if she enjoyed complete education and full health. Together with strong financial
support from the government, the country continues to strengthen the nimbleness and flexibility of its
workforce by providing continuing education such as the Skillsfuture initiative. Government spending on
continuing education will nearly double, to more than S$1 billion yearly

3.3

Singapore is a key hub in Southeast Asia and in some cases globally for finance, transhipment activities,
business services, transportation, and logistics. It also has a robust manufacturing base, which is a key
node in the complex value chains that wrap around East Asia. It is involved primarily in high value-added
activities that facilitate the smooth flow of people, goods, services, and investments.

In 2017, Singapore was ranked the world’s top maritime capital.[1] It has retained its status as the
premier port of call in Southeast Asia as a result of continual upgrades to enhance capacity and
efficiency, and despite intense competition from lower-cost rivals. In fact, it recently won back some
business it had lost to Malaysian ports such as Port Klang and Tanjung Pelapas.

Singapore has also cemented its position as ASEAN’s premier hub for air transport, surpassing Bangkok’s
Suvarnabhumi Airport and the Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) in terms of passenger
movements for the past four years. In 2017, Changi Airport handled a record 62.2 million passengers, up
6 per cent from 2016. Airfreight throughput also expanded by 7.9 per cent in 2017 to 2.13 million
tonnes.[2] However, competition is growing. KLIA’s passenger movements are rising quickly, which in
time could rival Changi Airport. Similarly, aircraft movements in Suvarnabhumi Airport have expanded
robustly and the challenge it poses can only grow on the back of a 117 billion baht (US$3.7 billion)
upgrade scheduled through to 2021, including a third runway.[3]

As a global financial centre, Singapore is ranked fourth behind only London, New York and Hong Kong,
and ahead of Tokyo, in the 2018 Global Financial Centres Index.[4] Total assets under management in
Singapore stood at S$2.7 trillion in 2016, having increased at a 15 per cent compound annual growth
rate over the previous five years.[5]

Singapore is also a favoured location for multinational companies with more than 7000 operating some
form of headquarters in the city-state. It also hosts 4200 regional headquarter operations. This is
considerably more than Hong Kong with 1389 regional headquarters, Sydney with 533, Tokyo with 531,
and Shanghai with 470.[6]

Finally, Singapore continues to leverage off its strategic location in Southeast Asia to remain a key node
for transhipment activities. Re-exports constitute an important part of its international trade while
transhipments produce positive spillovers into the Singapore economy in industries such as wholesale
and retail trade as well as transportation and storage.

Macroeconomic readings are also sound. A few figures illustrate just how robust Singapore’s
macroeconomic position is. The current account surplus remains substantial and persistent, averaging
18.2 per cent of GDP over the past five years, as a result of a very high savings rate relative to its
investment rate. Inflation has been well behaved over the past few years. In 2017, inflation averaged 0.6
per cent, higher than –0.5 per cent in 2016 and lower than the ten-year average of 2.3 per cent in the
period 2008–17.

Fiscal policy remains conservative, generating surpluses over the economic cycle.[7] The government’s
net asset position has ballooned over the years, with assets rising from S$483.2 billion in FY2005 to
S$705.4 billion in FY2010 to S$941.3 billion in FY2015, or almost three times GDP. At the same time net
assets increased from S$126.3 billion in FY2005 to S$186.4 billion in FY2010 to S$293.8 billion in FY2015.