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Key Information on Singapore

Key Information on Singapore

Demographics

Singapore is a city-state comprising 655 km² of land and 3.8 million people from a variety of ethnic backgrounds. The official languages, in order of usage, are English, Mandarin, Malay and Tamil.

Singapore has only been a country since 1965. Their government system is a Unicameral Parliament and Universal Suffrage with elections held every 5 years.

World Class Economy

Singapore is one of the most highly developed and sophisticated industrial, commercial, financial, and consumer economies in the world. The consulting firm A.T. Kearney recently rated Singapore as having the world's most global economy.

World Class City

As a city, Singapore is world class. It is considered the cleanest and safest city in all of Asia. Fortune Magazine has ranked Singapore as 'World's Best City for Business' and 'Best City in Asia to Work and Live'.

The city is equipped with rapid transit and innovative traffic initiatives to help regulate traffic. The only urban jungle in the world, located in the middle of the city, contains a zoo in which the animals run free and observers are caged.

A City of Hope and Opportunity

Home ownership in Singapore is 90% and residents have the world's second highest per capita incomes of US$26,000. Singapore employers and employees are both required to pay the equivalent of 20% of the employee's salary to a government managed retirement fund.

About 14% of the Singapore workforce are unionized and labour-management relations are considered excellent.

One Smart City

Singapore One (one network for everyone) which will be completed in 2000, will link every home, office and government agency through a nationwide multi-media network. The entire city will be linked with 300,000 km of optical fibre.

The Singapore One project, which was started in 1997 runs on an ATM (Asynchronous Transfer Mode) optical fibre network. Singapore's One's ATM backbone will be connected to local access networks that use advanced technologies such as Hybrid Fiber Coaxial (HFC) and Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line (ADSL) to maintain broadband performance.

Knowledge Based Workforce

Singapore has one of the most highly skilled and knowledgeable workforces in the world. Literacy rates in Singapore are at 93.8%. Unemployment ranges between 2 and 3%.

Their mission is: "To develop a globally-competitive workforce to support Singapore's vision of a knowledge-based workforce. In partnership with workers and employers, we foster a highly favourable workplace environment to attract knowledge-driven industries and help achieve sustainable economic growth for the well-being of Singaporeans."

Productivity - A Marathon with No Finish Line

Singaporeans view productivity to be a race to a never-ending finish line. They recognize the importance of constantly improving their competitiveness in the global economy. Their efforts to improve productivity are in six areas: productivity promotion, human resource development, technology application, industry development and incentive management.

Commitment to Science and Technology

Singapore responded to the economic uncertainty in Asia by accelerating and intensifying efforts to enhance the country's physical and information-technology infrastructure.

The Government of Singapore is committed to nurturing world-class science and technology capabilities to spur growth in new high value-added industries. A total of $ 2.5 billion US has been budgeted to promote research and development over the next 5 years.

They are keeping ahead of low cost production in Southeast Asia by expanding the value chain into related services, like research and development, process engineering, testing services and market research.

One of their main goals is to promote and develop a techno-entreprenuerial environment, which will lead to vibrant and thriving sector of high technology-orientated companies.

The Singapore Government alone spends in excess of $250 million a year on information technology.

Consumer Market

There are good opportunities in food and consumer goods. Singaporeans are attracted to North American brand names and are prepared to a premium price for them. Singapore is considered an excellent test market for US products. The Singapore government promotes the country as a franchising hub.

Singapore is also a showcase and a good pilot project site for franchisers interested in entering the region. Most promising sub-sectors include children-related and food-related franchises.

Tourism

There are nearly 7 million visitors each year to Singapore, which is nearly double the number of island residents. Singapore offers an array of visitor attractions. They have developed their island by incorporating the new with the old. The history and culture of Singapore is everywhere.

Investment Policies

Singapore has a highly open investment regime, through which it is compensated for land, resource and labour constraints. Although the Singapore economy is rated by the Fraser Institute and the Heritage Foundation as the second freest in the world, the public sector is the dominant player in the economy, accounting for more than 60% of total GDP.

There is a significant US presence in Singapore with approximately 1,200 American subsidiaries operating in Singapore. Singapore exports about $21 billion a year to the US. Singapore is the United States' ninth largest export market at $18 billion per year.

The US accounts for about 40% of total investment commitments and is Singapore's most important source of new investments. Singapore does not impose performance requirements on foreign investors as a condition for establishing operations.

Only four Singapore companies have been rated by Business Week to be in the top 1000 companies in the world. Three of the four are what is referred to as GLCs (government linked companies). They are Singtel (telecommunications), Singapore Airlines, and the Development Bank of Singapore. The government believes that GLCs also serve to balance Singapore's heavy dependence on foreign companies to drive its economy.

Major Financial Centre

Singapore is the major financial centre for most of Southeast Asia. About 700 foreign and local financial institutions are located in Singapore. Singapore is the world's fourth largest foreign exchange trading centre, behind only London, New York and Tokyo, with an average trading volume of $142 billion US (1998).

Distribution and Transportation Centre

Singapore is the point of entry for many goods entering and leaving Southeast Asia. For example, more than two-thirds of Singapore's imports of information technology products are re-exported to third countries. Singapore is the busiest port in the world in terms of shipping tonnage. At any one time, there are more than 800 ships in port.

Singapore's Changi Airport won 13 Best Airport awards in 1998, and was voted Best Airport for Overall Passenger Convenience by IATA (International Air Transport Association). It has been rated the Best Airport for Business Travel (UK) for 11 consecutive years.

About 24 million passengers a year pass through Changi Airport, which also handles about 1.3 million tonnes of cargo. Singapore has six free-trade zones for sea-borne cargo and one for airfreight. Singapore Airlines is universally considered the best airline in the world. Their commitment to excellence and constant innovation extends throughout their economy.

Industry

Singapore's booming economy is focused on petroleum and petro-chemicals, electronics and computer manufacturing, aerospace equipment and services, telecommunications and financial services.

Opportunities exist as well in shipping, pharmaceuticals, franchising of food and consumer goods.

Financial and business services, and manufacturing continue to be Singapore's most important sectors accounting for 29% and 23% of GDP, respectively.

Manufacturing

Manufacturing has been the fundamental driving force of the Singapore economy for the past thirty years. Singapore is a leading electronics manufacturer with over one-half (52.8%) of Singapore's $ 43 billion manufacturing output coming from electronics; everything from disk drives, semi-conductors, and computer parts which are mainly exported to the US and Europe.

Singapore has been aggressively attracting investments in wafer fabrication facilities. It is projected that by 2003 there will be nearly 10 wafer plants producing wafers at 0.25 micron and above.

Investment in Construction and Infrastructure

The public and private sector in Singapore award about $15 billion (US) per year in construction and infrastructure projects. Over the past few of years, the total construction volume for Asia has been $1.4 trillion US annually.

Growing Aerospace Industry

Singapore's aerospace industry has been going through strong growth in recent years. It has service capabilities ranging from small aero-engines module overhaul and exchange to highly sophisticated component repair for large commercial engines, as well as maintenance services ranging from small general aviation aircraft and business jets to regional large-body jetliners.

Asia is expected to lead growth in the world air travel market. The region is expected to receive 35% of the global aircraft deliveries over the next 10-20 years.

Efficient and Effective Government

Singapore is in a very strong fiscal situation, which helped them to maintain stability during the 'Asian Flu' financial crisis. The government maintains foreign reserves of $75 billion (US), has no foreign debt and a savings rate of 50% of GDP.

The bureaucracy in Singapore is considered efficient and effective. Civil servants and politicians are very well paid. The Prime Minister of Singapore is paid $750,000 (US). Singapore is well-known in business circles for its clean, virtually corruption-free government. If corruption does occur, it is dealt with swiftly and in a public manner.

The partnership between government and the private sector is often recognized as the reason for Singapore's success. According to Professor Schein, Sloan Fellows Professor of Management Emeritus: "One of the most striking things about Singapore, is the degree of connectedness of the leaders of business, the civil service and their various government agencies. They know each other to a large extent; they trust each other because they know each other and that makes the whole society work more smoothly."

Join us in Singapore and get to know leaders of business, government and our communities better.