Since its independence, Singapore has been a symbol of organization and success, especially economically. These days, however, the big news around town is about the economic downturn of the Southeast Asian region. Singapore grew at 7.8% in 1997 - a tremendous amount considering that the goal of the United States is no more than 3% per year. In the past quarter (third quarter), the Singapore economy shrunk by 1.5%. If the fourth quarter also shrinks, it will be considered a recession. The 1.5% decrease was the first contraction in 13 years, again, a tremendous feat. Even the unemployment rate has crept up from only 2.3% to 4.5% in September and is expected to approach 7% in 1999. The recent economic collapse of many of the Southeast Asia nations has hurt Singapore for several reasons. As a major port, a tremendous amount of trade from countries like Indonesia and Malaysia come through Singapore. With the recent negative economic events in these countries, the ports of Singapore as well as investment in Singapore has been declining. A lot of the growth that Singapore has maintained has been attributed to the still strong U.S. economy. With the U.S. economy in larger question, the Singapore economy is under even more pressure.
The Singaporese are fighting back. They recently begun to reduce business costs in initiating wage restraints. They also cut the Central Provident Fund contributions. Next, they are trying the enhance the competitiveness of their exports. They are also encouraging their banks to merger and are making their financial-sector more liberal in order to attract more foreign investment. Additional funds are going to be used for infrastructure as well as for education. High-tech entrepreneurial businesses are also going to be given additional aid. Finally, there is a goal to prevent the restriction of the free flow of capital, goods, and services. Just recently, in November, Singapore took its first steps in merging its futures market with its stock exchange in order to make their markets more efficient. The country also hired several people to study their long-term competitiveness position. The educational goals remain to have one computer for every two students. Plans are expected to be released soon of a cut of at least 10% of the Central Provident Fund. The beauty of Singapore is that the cut is expected to be completely accepted with little more than a weep. In fact, the move is completely supported by most Singaporeans.
On the 15th of February in 1942 one of the biggest defeats of the British Empire was accomplished by the Japanese, Singapore was surrendered. The Fall of Singapore was relatively destructive to the relationship between Britain and Australia. Australia relied on Britain holding Singapore as it was the last defence against the Japanese and it was feared that Japan would go on and invade Australia if it fell, Australia openly showed that they could not rely on the British for defence by becoming a strong ally with America and asking them to help with the feared Japanese invasion. Australia feared the threat of invasion constantly throughout the war, when Singapore fell the Australian government predicted a certain attack by the Japanese.
World War II was a gruesome war which caused lots of deaths. But for Japan it was a chance for them to rise, gain power and recognition from the western countries that looked down on them. But because of this Australia has had to face Japan in numerous battles. These are the most important and significant ones for Australia.
Singapore as a country has had various transformations throughout its history, however the period 1950 and 1970 was quite critical. Much of these changes had a lot to do with the development of trade and manufacturing. This is without forgetting the financial sector where the intention was to come up with a financial hub that could be used in economic development. Looking at the case of Singapore, we would say that it is a productive economy with a very high market competition. This observation has been further clarified by the Swiss International Institute for Management Development, going with their report that they released in the year 2001 (Chellaraj & Mattoo, 2009). In this study, we intend to evaluate the case of political economy of development in Singapore and examine the tensions between the state and various economic institutions. In additions to examining this institution, we would also like to examine how these variables have contributed towards the attainment of favorable growth rates and economic prosperity.
Financial crisis is important to every country. In every country, they always have a chance getting financial crisis, therefore Australia might get financial crisis in further years. Banks can reduce the likelihood of having financial crisis in the country. They are also the main idea of financial crisis in everywhere. Many possible ways to have financial crisis in a country, and Australia financial system helped government to reduce the damage from 2008 international crisis, many countries expect Australia have serious problem and impact after crisis.
Comparative advantage means that an industry, firm, country or individual are able to produce goods and services at a lower opportunity cost than others which are also producing the same goods and services. Also, in order to be profitable, the number in exports must be higher than the number in import. From the diagram we seen above, Singapore is seen to have a comparative advantage in some services. The services are Transport, Financial, business management, maintenance & Repair and Advertising & Market Research, etc. These export services to other countries improve the balance of payment. On the other side, Singapore is seen to have a comparative disadvantage in some services. The services are Travel, Telecommunications, Computer & Information,
Confederation College can also train the people but that will include a lot of cost initially and it will be better to match Singaporean HR style with the existing HR style over time and slowly. Social and cultural factors Crime rate Singapore has the second lowest murder rate in the world. The security of personal belongings while traveling, the rate of snatching and pick pocketing is reducing every year in Singapore. According to a report by BBC in 2011, for 80 days there was no record of pick pocketing and snatching in Singapore (BBC, 2013).
In the 1980s and for most of the 1990s, the entire Asian marketplace was seen as nothing less than a miracle. Business was booming, and economies in the region enjoyed GDP growth rates nearing 10% per year—4 to 5 times the growth rate of the US economy at the time. It began in the ‘80s when foreign investment in Asian countries began to increase. Foreign investors lured by stable governments, the promise of high returns, and currencies that were tightly pegged to the US dollar began throwing money into the ASEAN-5 (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, and Thailand). Excitement in foreign investment like this can greatly help those foreign economies and therefore help the world economy. However, the extent and speed at which money was invested in these countries in the 1980s was far greater than anyone could have imagined. The already growing countries grew even more with the investment being supplied by outsiders. Until the crisis, Asia had attracted almost 50% of the total capital investment in developing nations in the world—almost $100 billion in 1996 alone. This foreign money financed power plants, skyscrapers, airports, and a quickly growing export economy. Workers’ wages rose and an entire middle class appeared with a taste for finer—usually imported—things. The per-capita income levels in Hong Kong and Singapore exceeded those of some industrial countries for a while. Moreover, for the 30 years leading up to the eventual fall of the Asian markets, personal income levels had risen fourfold in Malaysia, fivefold in Thailand, and an astonishing tenfold in Korea. This swelling of the Asian markets was felt all over the world as other countries’ exports to Asia rose in response. The U...
Globalisation involves the removal of trade barriers and the increasing integration between economies. Singapore had taken advantage of opportunities provided by globalisation by increasing world trade, strengthening economic integration, lowering costs and raising productivity. Singapore is a newly industrialised economy and one of the five founding members of ASEAN. Singapore, like many nations imports goods which include machinery and equipment, mineral fuels and chemicals, and exports goods such as machinery and equipment, pharmaceuticals and refined petroleum products to its various trading partners like Malaysia, Hong Kong, China and Indonesia making it the 14th largest exporter and 15th largest importer. Figures 1-4 demonstrate the imports and exports by commodity. Singapore has a GDP of $274.7 billion and a growth rate of 1.8%. Its current unemployment rate is 1.8% and its inflation rate is 4.5%.
We will find out how Singapore manage to raises it economic development in such rapid growth aftermath of war and separation.
Can anyone imagine what will happen to Malaysia after a few more decades? Debt crisis in Malaysia is getting more severe due to lack of management among individuals. Serious debt crisis might lead to bankruptcy to our country. Nation leaders should lead others away from debt. If this scenario continues, Malaysia might follow the footstep of Greece, Spain, Italy, and Portugal. Debt crisis can be avoided by providing trainings and courses to the employees, improve individual personal finance management and filtering candidates in hiring process.
Since Singapore gained sovereignty in 1965 from Malaysia, its politics has been dominated by the People Action Party. Under the leadership of People Action Party, Singapore has a “distinct political culture: authoritarian, pragmatic, rational and legalistic.” Economic growth and political stability were maintained by the People Action Party’s guidance. Thus, Singapore is corruption- free government where power is gained through skill and performance that attracted investments from other countries (“Introduction to Singapore’s political system”, 2011). Singapore scored the point of 1.33 in the 2009 World Bank’s governance indicators for the factor political stability. The government also opens a number of sectors such as financial services o, telecommunications, power generation, and retail to increase competition and foreign firms (eStandardsForum, February 2010).
Singapore gained its independence after the separation from Malaysia to become a sovereign state due to the different political reasoning and principles between the ruling parties of Singapore and Malaysia. A sovereign state has the ability to go into relations with other sovereign states and practices internal control over the country through laws and rules. Singapore is no different from other sovereign states that would inevitably be dealt with obstacles that seek to undermine the sovereignty of states. Without sovereignty in Singapore, Singapore would never have the opportunity to make decisions, take up roles and beliefs that we currently uphold now. Being remarkably fruitful is deliberately basic for Singapore's sovereignty. Achievement
In Singapore, education is placed as one of the top priorities which can be inferred from its rank of 2nd out of the total expenditure of the government as compared to other ministries (Department of Statistics Singapore, 2011). Education possesses many roles in the perspective of different realms: the nation, the school, the teachers and the students. At different levels, different objectives are set. Over the years, we have seen several radical changes and transformations of our educational objectives according to the dynamics of the globalised world.
Looking back on the history of Singapore its hard not to sit back and rivet at all the progression and improvement that have made Singapore a more relaxing and astonishing haven and must-see destination. Starting chronologically, from the Sanskrit words “simha” (lion) and “pura” (city) Singapore or Singapura, the “lion City” shows the rich history and the beginning of a new era that Singapore went through, and describes the city-state and the city life of people whom live or visit Singapore. We then move into how the city-state flourished as a trading post for a lot of sea vessels, which include Chinese junks, Portuguese battleships, and Indian vessels. The nineteenth century was an important time for Singapore because it was when modern Singapore was founded. On January 29, 1819 Sir Thomas Raffles (the...
In addition, after the 2011 Singapore general election, the government of Singapore has greatly changed its economic approach and it seems to be better for the economy of Singapore so far. On the other hand, measures have also been taken to cool down the property market which has constantly affected inflation rates, also tightened the foreign labour policies that constantly influence the labour market and unfold its impacts onto the Singapore’s economy as it comes back in one round. The unemployment rate in Singapore has been maintaining itself as being one of the lowest numbers in the world. The majority of Singapore’s labour force is well educated and highly skilled. Even primary education is a must for all citizens (Economywatch.com, 2010). In addition, for the year 2010, Singapore had the 8th largest current account balance in the world at US$49.454 billion. To conclude, Singapore has come so far from its sunken economy since independence in 1965 to become a booming and prosperous economy that it is