FDI in Singapore

303 Words2 Pages
Singapore experienced its first foreign direct investment in 1963; $157million was pumped into the economy from foreign hands. This was because the climate at this moment in time in the South East Asia was one of unstable grounds both in their economies and their government. Singapore broke away from the Malaysian Alliance because of political reasons; this was at a cost though to their GNP as they lost trade with the surrounding countries. To redevelop and improve its economy, the Singaporean government opened her trade borders and made it 100% ‘tariff less’ and gave tax breaks to foreign investors. They coupled this with new employment laws which restricted the power of works unions, increased working hours, lowered wages, reducing working conditions and reduced workers rights. All sectors of the Singaporean economy are open to investment; in 2005 for example 82% of investment in Singapore came from Europe, North America and Asia. 43% alone came from Europe, Britain being a big investor. In 2007 FDI measured $24.74 billion, 90% of this money benefited the following sectors • Manufacturing • Whole Sale Trading and retail • Hotels and restaurants In 2007, 239 projects were created and invested in because of FDI. The benefits of FDI in Singapore is the ‘Trickle down’ method which the government hope will encourage local businesses to innovate and encourage entrepreneurship within the local population so that the economy will be able to stand alone without as much foreign investment. Japan, is an example of a South East Asia company which has enjoyed large economic growth without the input of FDI, therefore showing Singapore that it is not the most important reason why South East Asia took off in the 80’s and 90’s leading to the current economy where they are economically strong compared to the rest of the
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