Singapore Growth Slowing
By Ronald Liu, Waymark Singapore
Published March 20, 2010
Singapore is often called a “benevolent dictatorship,” able to take excellent care of its population, in return for social order and an especially capable governance of both transparent business conduct and societal responsibility and discipline, all within the framework of a single dominant, but not dictatorial, elected political party. Just about everything in Singapore is done right, and its consistently-number-one-ranked airline, Singapore Airlines, typifies what this country is all about. In terms of national courtesy, a positive attitude, educational competitiveness at virtually all levels, squeaky clean streets and public policy, infrastructure development, world-class operations for a host of local and multi-national organizations, increasingly diverse cultural venues, and multi-cultural awareness, again – they simply do it right – every time, every way.
Pundits say that it is easy to make such an enviable record, given the incredibly tiny and compact geography, when compared to a sprawling China or American geo-political and economic environment. Indeed its total island population is not even the size of a large U.S., Japanese, or Chinese city, but then again, it is precisely our natural resource – our people resource (our only resource, not even water abundant!) that we grow and nourish, harvest and develop, that makes Singapore all that is has become since the early days as poor fishing village. With expansion averaging well over 7% for several years before the recent global financial crisis, as well as a gateway position to all that is Asia, Singapore has been a model for sustaining a quality of life and economic growth, in spite of a profound lack of space. One of the fastest-growing economies of the world.
Much of Singapore’s economic growth in recent years has been attributable to its surging population of immigrants, who took on lower-paying jobs and allowed companies to keep costs down. But also part of the equation has been a local, extremely highly qualified and motivated, well trained workforce to develop a scale of business professionalism and technical expertise equal to or better than anywhere in the world.
The latest slightly subdued forecast of slowing growth, to perhaps around 5% annually during the next decade, is seen as a unanimous conclusion by a number of Singaporean business and political leaders. From 1960 to the year 2000, Singapore’s rise into the highly developed world’s inner circle has been viewed as one of the most dynamic economies in Asia, and throughout the world. Slower growth isn’t easily accepted in Singapore, which prides itself on consistently out performing expectations in large part by positioning itself as a haven for investors and multi-nationals seeking a big presence in Asia-Pacific but worried about unpredictable laws and unstoppable governments in less-developed countries in the hemisphere. Now overcrowding, slower growth, and lessening productivity are all becoming looming issues to contend with. Maintaining rapid growth also is seen as key to making sure that gap between rich and poor doesn’t get worse in Singapore, while seeking alternatives to cheap labor ramp up the dialogue as to how to formulate a new-century growth plan. The goal is to deliver on a productivity growth rate of 2-3%, with a 5% economic growth agenda keeping this nation ahead of other advanced economies.