The service sector is primarily responsible for a 0.1-percent growth rate in the third quarter, counterbalancing setbacks in manufacturing output, according to the Associated Press. The Monetary Authority of Singapore intends to lower the value of the Singapore dollar to boost exports.
In 2015, the value of housing assets owned by households in Singapore at the aggregate level was 55% of their net worth. Ninety percent of Singapore households owned their homes, meaning that almost all households had wealth saved in housing, and households’ housing wealth was 2.1 times that of the country’s gross domestic product. In addition, Singapore is facing an aging population.
According to United Nations World Population Prospects 2015, Singapore will become a super-aged society by 2026. By then, one in five people in the country (or 1.25 million) will be aged 65 or above. The median age will exceed 44.9, up from just 18.1 in 1965. When Singapore gained independence in 1965, just 2.65 percent of the population (or 49,757) were aged 65 or above.
One of the lingering questions of Singapore politics over the last couple of decades has been how to measure the effectiveness the National Education program introduced to schools in the second half of the 1990s. The program was designed to instil into the next generation a deep sense of gratitude to founding father Lee Kuan Yew and the People’s Action Party (PAP) government that he led for 30 years.
Singapore’s People’s Action Party (PAP) is riding high in the saddle again. After a decade of slightly sagging fortunes, in which the long-ruling party’s share of the national vote slumped from over 75 percent in 2001 to barely 60 percent in 2011, the PAP rebounded mightily in the election on 11 September, snaring nearly 70 percent of votes cast. This only secured the PAP one additional seat in parliament, since extreme malapportionment and gerrymandering had already translated its 60 percent share of the votes, absurdly, into over 93 percent of all seats.
Singapore’s 2015 general elections will be the most widely contested since independence. Eight opposition parties and a handful of independents will vie for 89 parliamentary seats. A tactical question hangs over many of the 2.46 million eligible voters as they go to the polls on 11 September: do they reward the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) for its recent implementation of several redistributive policies or credit the Workers’ Party (WP), the main opposition party, for making the government more responsive to the public?
On 25 August 2015, Singapore’s President Tony Tan officially dissolved the parliament, triggering early parliamentary elections. While these elections, by law, could have waited until January 2017, 2015 is particularly advantageous for the incumbent People’s Action Party (PAP).
Due to declining demand from Chinese and European markets, Singapore’s manufacturing base suffered in the second quarter, including the construction and service sectors. The overall economy grew 1.7 percent year-on-year, but shrank 4.6 percent quarter-on-quarter from April to June.
Singapore’s economy grew 2.6 percent in Q1, a boost from 2.1 percent from the last quarter. GDP also rose to an annual 3.2 percent in the first few months, exceeding a previous government forecast of 1.1 percent in April. The increased growth is attributed to stronger exports and increasing U.S. demand.
Seldom has the death of a great Asian leader commanded as much appreciation in the West as the passing of Lee Kuan Yew. The mind numbs at the number of well-earned tributes to the man who led Singapore to become a successful and influential nation-state.
