Singapore - Economic sectors



Singapore's separation from the Federation of Malaysia in 1965 had advantages and disadvantages. On the one hand, its economic development has been constrained by its small territory, small population, and extremely limited natural resources, and the country has always been fully reliant on the importation of foodstuffs. Yet Singapore has a huge advantage in its location in a major sea route connecting the Far East to South Asia, Europe and the Middle East. The country has a well-trained,

well-educated, disciplined labor force and has attracted major multinational corporations from Europe, Japan, and the United States. Many of them, such as Sony, NEC, Matsushita, Texas Instruments, and others, have established their manufacturing and assembly plants or distribution centers there.

Singapore has fully used the advantage of its superior location, reinventing itself as a major communication hub in Southeast Asia. The policy of encouraging private entrepreneurship, giving priority to the development of an export-oriented economy, and encouraging capital intensive industries combined with selective state intervention, brought Singapore unprecedented economic

growth from the 1960s through the 1990s. By 2000, industry and services had become the 2 largest sectors of the modern Singaporean economy, contributing 30 percent and 70 percent of GDP, respectively, in 2000. (Agriculture's contribution was negligible.) Although there was a substantial slowing down in economic growth in all sectors of the economy after the 1997 Asian financial crisis, Singapore managed to avoid economic decline like neighboring Indonesia or Thailand.

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