What will happen to singapore in 2017

Almost all the recommendations involved validating existing policy approaches see Box A. Same favoured growth sectors : Companies should look to high-growth sectors in Singapore such as finance, hub services, logistics, urban solutions, healthcare, the digital economy, and advanced manufacturing, with the government taking on a more active role to support growth and innovation.

Continued commitment to retaining a large manufacturing base : There will be stepped-up efforts to ensure that manufacturing in Singapore is globally competitive and maintains its share of GDP at 20 per cent over the medium term. No new initiatives for regional integration appear to have been contemplated. Deregulation to spur innovation, digitisation and entrepreneurship : This was one area where some interesting policy moves were hinted at.

The government will simplify the regulatory framework for venture capitalists and encourage the entry of private equity firms to provide smart and patient growth capital. The government will also promote the adoption of digital technologies across the economy with a dedicated focus on building strong capabilities in data analytics and cybersecurity.

Scaling up and internationalising : The government to support the scaling up of high-growth local enterprises as well as the commercialisation of research findings and intellectual property of research institutions. The government will make a big push for agglomeration gains through enhanced international connectivity as well as by developing districts such as Jurong and Punggol into vibrant clusters.

Tax reforms : The government to maintain a broad-based, progressive, and fair tax system while remaining competitive and pro-growth. This could be an intriguing reference to a hike in the goods and services tax in the near future. Twenty-three such ITMs have been articulated since they were announced in , covering 80 per cent of the economy. Ultimately, economic development is more than simply achieving high rates of GDP growth.

For growth to be durable and deliver tangible benefits to its people, it must be accompanied by transformation, expanding the inherent capacity [25] of citizens and the companies that are owned by its citizens to not only create value but to do so in a sustained manner. Rising, sizeable local companies are relatively rare in the Singapore economy compared to the economic heft of foreign multinational corporations. Due to the multinationals-driven, export-oriented strategy that the Singapore Government has long favoured, export-oriented manufacturing consists primarily of foreign companies, with local enterprises making up the supporting industry infrastructure.

This is in stark contrast with the manufacturing models seen in Germany, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan, which incorporate globally competitive local enterprises such as the Mittelstand in Germany, the keiretsu in Japan, the chaebols in South Korea, and the world-leading semiconductor companies in Hsinchu Science Park, Taiwan. Yet, it is local companies that will play a decisive role in the flexible, bottom-up adjustment necessary for Singapore to adapt successfully in the global economy of the future.

Foreign companies will tend to relocate their activity once the economy becomes less attractive. Local companies will have the incentive to stay and adapt.

Part of the problem could be due to narrow performance indicators governing policymaking. For example, in the —11 period an excessive emphasis was placed on generating economic growth rather than overall quality of life in guiding the formulation of policies. Moreover, recent major policy initiatives such as the CFE do not appear to have examined the economy holistically, reviewing the overall structure of the economy and how it has changed.

Rather, there appears to be a quick-cut approach, focused on examining a few areas of interest to the leadership. There has also been an unwillingness to move away from taboos and strongly-held assumptions. It could be argued that generous state-funded infant and child care and more expansive support for parental support such as child allowances explains why some northern European countries have managed to reverse the decline in total fertility rates.

Many observers would agree that to be successful in innovation, Singapore needs to address several areas. The education system needs to be less competitive and more tolerant of late bloomers.

However, a reluctance to undertake a bold restructuring of education means the response has been tweaks many of which are commendable. Others would argue that a freer media and willingness to tolerate dissent is also important for creativity. Here, too, there has been a disappointing reluctance to change. Part of the weakness could also be traced to problems in the working culture of the bureaucracy.

However, there are growing concerns about how these individuals behave collectively. There is a tendency to recruit and promote people who are similar to the senior civil servants, with whom the seniors feel comfortable. Those who challenge the views of their seniors are filtered out and do not make it to the top. Consequently, there appears to be far less diversity in the composition of the higher and middle ranks of the key services.

The result is a greater risk of groupthink. The system of training and rotation among different agencies and ministries may not be working as well as previously. For example, scholars serving in the Singapore Armed Forces appear to be parachuted into senior positions for which their training and exposure do not prepare them adequately. There does not seem to be enough emphasis on experience and domain knowledge. There also appears to be more of a tendency in the bureaucracy to second-guess the wishes of senior civil servants or political leaders and to tell them what they want to hear rather than provide dispassionate and objective advice and analysis.

Such risks are present in any bureaucracy but in Singapore the problem seems to have worsened of late. The major reason for this diminished capacity is that the policy responses required to support a successful adjustment may not be evolving quickly enough. Moreover, the capacity for companies to make more spontaneous bottom-up adjustments seems to be lacking.

I would like to acknowledge the assistance I received in writing this paper from my colleague Mr Jason Tan, who provided research support and helped me to crystallise my thinking. He has more than 30 years of expertise in economic and political risk assessment and forecasting in Asia.

Before joining the Centennial Group, he was Chief Economist for Asia of a leading international investment bank and managed its Singapore-based economic advisory group.

Total labour cost consists of compensation of employees, labour income of the self-employed, other labour-related costs e. Foreign Worker Levy and net training costs incurred by employers, and wage subsidies e. Wage subsidies reduce labour costs to employers and are netted off from total labour cost. It would also include the adapted cultural habits and institutions in society that enable economic agents to work together to produce results, including, more broadly, social resilience and cohesiveness.

Latest Research. Lines blurred: Chinese community organisations in Australia. Upcoming Events. Australia in the World. Global Economy. Latest Articles, by Issue. Log in Sign up Back Login Sign up. Getting Singapore in shape: Economic challenges and how to meet them.

Singapore remains resilient but flexible adjustment lacking The capacity to respond: Is the current policy approach likely to work? Quah, J. Published in Public Administration and Policy. Published by Emerald Publishing Limited.

Anyone may reproduce, distribute, translate and create derivative works of this article for both commercial and non-commercial purposes , subject to full attribution to the original publication and authors. Naisbitt, , pp. When Singapore was founded by Stamford Raffles in January , it was a small fishing village inhabited by a thousand Malay fishermen and a few Chinese farmers Turnbull, , p.

Its transformation from a small fishing village in the early nineteenth century to a modern and prosperous city-state today is an incredible story of from rags to riches.

In his memoirs, Lee wrote: We had been asked to leave Malaysia and go our own way with no signposts to our next destination. We faced tremendous odds with an improbable chance of survival.

The lives of Singaporeans have also improved as reflected in the drastic decline in the unemployment rate from 14 per cent to 2. Furthermore, the proportion of the population living in public housing has also increased from 9 per cent in to 82 per cent in Goh, , p.

In the same speech, Goh , p. In his memoirs, Lee Kuan Yew , pp. However good the system of government, bad leaders will bring harm to their people. In addition to his belief in the importance of having good leaders, Lee was also a pragmatic leader.

In November , Lee advised visiting African leaders to adopt a pragmatic approach in formulating economic policy rather than a dogmatic stance. Lee , p. Accordingly, it invited a United Nations mission led by a Dutch economist, Albert Winsemius, to formulate an industrialisation programme for Singapore. The Winsemius team recommended a crash programme to reduce unemployment and a ten-year programme to attract foreign investment to Singapore with appropriate incentives Quah, , p.

How you do it, is your job. Number two is: let [the statue of Stamford] Raffles [who founded Singapore] stand where he stands today; say publicly that you accept the heavy ties with the West because you will very much need them in your economic programme. Singapore succeeded in developing its economy because Lee implemented the sound economic policies recommended by Winsemius.

In his July interview with American journalist, Tom Plate, Lee elaborated on his pragmatic approach to solving problems: I do not work on a theory. Instead I ask: what will make this work? If, after a series of such solutions, I find that a certain approach worked, then I try to find out what was the principle behind the solution. I choose a solution which offers a higher probability of success, but if it fails, I have some other way. Never a dead end. The public bureaucracy in Singapore consists of 16 ministries and 64 statutory boards Republic of Singapore, and has grown from , to , employees during —, as shown in Table II.

It has attained percentile ranking for these ten years: , , , , , , , , and Thus, it is not surprising that Singapore is ranked first for government effectiveness in as shown in Table IV. A comparative analysis of the role of the public bureaucracy in policy implementation in five ASEAN countries has confirmed that Singapore is the most effective because of its favourable policy context and its effective public bureaucracy.

Conversely, Indonesia is the least effective because of its unfavourable policy context and its ineffective public bureaucracy. Malaysia, Vietnam and the Philippines occupy intermediate positions between Singapore and Indonesia and are ranked second, third and fourth, respectively, depending on the nature of their policy contexts and the levels of effectiveness of their public bureaucracies Quah, a , p.

Lee, , p. The problem of corruption deteriorated during the Japanese Occupation February to August as civil servants could not survive on their low wages because of the high inflation rate and the scarcity of food and other commodities forced many people to trade in the black market. As conditions did not improve during the post-war period, corruption was rampant among civil servants because their low salaries, high inflation and inadequate supervision by their superiors provided them with ample opportunities for corruption with a low probability of being caught Quah, , pp.

After assuming office in June , Lee Kuan Yew explained in his memoirs why he and his colleagues were determined to keep Singapore free from corruption: We were sickened by the greed, corruption and decadence of many Asian leaders. When we took the oath of office […] in June , we all wore white shirts and white slacks to symbolise purity and honesty in our personal behaviour and our public life.

So from the very beginning we gave special attention to the areas where discretionary powers had been exploited for personal gain and sharpened the instruments that could prevent, detect or deter such practices. Lee, , pp. As corruption was endemic in Singapore when the PAP leaders assumed office, they learned from the mistakes made by the British colonial government in curbing corruption and showed their political will by enacting the POCA on 17 June to replace the ineffective Prevention of Corruption Ordinance POCO and to strengthen the CPIB by providing it with more legal powers, personnel and funding.

However, it made a second mistake by not providing the CPIB with adequate legal powers, budget and personnel to perform its functions effectively. The same processes and procedures apply to everyone being investigated, including ministers and chief executive officers of major companies.

The ministry said its central view is for GDP growth in to come in slightly above the middle of its forecast range of 1. The external demand outlook is expected to be slightly weaker in compared to last year, the MTI said, adding there were also potential risks arising from U.

Revised figures showed GDP increased 2. This MoU is designed to bring about cross-learning benefits to both the World Bank Group and the Singapore infrastructure ecosystem, through leveraging networks, expertise and knowledge, in areas of knowledge exchange, infrastructure finance, implementation and operations.

This includes various knowledge exchange programs, and the revamped Infrastructure Finance Summit, which is now in its 9th year running, with nine finance ministers from ASEAN countries participating last year. The Hub also delivers important research related to infrastructure and connectivity. The Global Infrastructure Connectivity Alliance , its Secretariat based in Singapore, will work across regions and disciplines to promote cooperation, knowledge exchange, and meaningful progress in the field of global inter-connectivity.

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