Its portfolio is broad-based, including financial services, industrial and engineering, energy and resources, life sciences, consumer and lifestyle, technology, transportation and logistics, and real estate. It invests in the unlisted public and private companies with a focus on health care, financial and business services as well as natural resources, real estate, fixed income, and alternative markets including foreign exchange, commodity, and money markets across the globe.
It manages substantial investments in the technology sector in China. Figure 5 The Evolution of the Singapore Economy — Source: Monsalve E.
Slide It managed to survive three crises and in recent years has seen its grown accelerate. The Singapore Sustainable Blueprint, launched in , strives to achieve the twin goals of economic growth and a good living environment. It is aware of its shortcomings, which include water scarcity, air pollution, island restriction and strives to cover most aspects of sustainability — air quality, transport, climate change, energy efficiency, water, waste, nature conservation, provision of green and blue water spaces and public health.
In seeking to achieve its aim of becoming a knowledge based economy, Singapore is also heavily investing in the development of biotechnology and applies the same in developing vertical agriculture due to shortage of land. Singapore has allotted the Singapore Land Authority which is a national body that governs the allocation of land for this kind of farming. It has come a long way since independence. Furthermore, these industries were dominated by British corporations.
Policies were immediately adopted to diversify the economy by promoting and developing other activities. In the government created incentives to expand large-scale manufacturing and energy-intensive industries.
The Heavy Industries Corporation of Malaysia HICOM , for example, was formed to assist in the manufacture of pig-iron, aluminium die casting, pulp and paper, steel, cement, motorcycle and heavy engineering.
At the same time, export incentives were initiated. Figure 6. Average monthly gross household income by ethnic group. Source: Economist and de Haan. As shown in Figure 6, the monthly income of ethnic Malays has increased at a greater rate than that of Indian and Chinese Malaysians since the NEP was implemented.
However, Chinese incomes continued to grow at roughly double the rate of ethnic Malays, as many moved into entrepreneurial activities and out of state employment where recruitment policies have advantaged the Bumiputera. Chinese Malaysians now dominate the professions of accountants, architects and engineers while Indian Malaysians dominate the professions of veterinarians, doctors, lawyers and dentists, well exceeding their respective population ratios.
The New Economic Policy has been criticised for creating an oligarchy and a "subsidy mentality". Political opponents have accused it of breeding nepotism, corruption and systemic inefficiency. From — these policies were extended to include price controls and subsidies on staples and fuel to keep costs of living low, but at a cost to government finances.
These have now largely been phased out. As global petrol prices have fallen, so the subsidy has been reduced. The government is in the tenth of its five year development plans. Geographically over half of these funds are invested in Malaysia Employees Provident Fund. It manages the compulsory savings plan for private sector workers.
Members may use their savings for investing in a list of enterprises approved by the Ministry of Finance, with dividends paid into their individual accounts. RHB Bank and much of the remainder in various domestic financial instruments eg government bonds.
This fund specialises in joint venture projects to attract inward investment, especially from the Middle East and China in the fields of energy, property, agri-business and tourism.
Established by the Government with the specific mandate to develop and promote key sectors that are considered of strategic importance to the overall socio-economic development objectives of the country, these funds invest in agriculture, small and medium enterprises SMEs , infrastructure, maritime, export-oriented enterprises as well as capital-intensive and high-technology industries.
However, as we observed first hand, some of the ease of doing business is at the expense of the environment for example with oil palm plantation expansion nibbling at the edge of National Park rain forest; KL air quality deteriorating and karst landscape being digested by cement works.
A key factor in the development of any country is the level of corruption. Corruption is regarded as an endemic problem by many in Malaysia and ranges from "community policemen" generating income by randomly stopping vehicles to fine them for a spurious violation, up to Singapore taking "firm regulatory actions" against four major banks over their dealings with scandal-ridden Malaysian state fund 1MDB. The case was reopened in October by the Attorney General.
While all banks have been affected by the recent global economic downturn, Islamic banks have proved to be particularly resilient over the recent global financial crisis. None has required government bail-outs. The underlying principles, embodied in Sharia law help explain why:. In Islam, it is business risk taking, and not financial risk taking, that forms the basis for profits.
The " al-bai" principle is manifested by an exchange of money with an underlying asset, whereas a contract of interest-bearing loan entails an exchange of money for more money. In a nutshell, Islamic banks run along the lines of mutual societies, which once abounded in the UK eg.
Building Societies until "liberated" from such constraints in the Thatcher years. In Islamic banking, all financial transactions must relate to the real economy with no space for "financialisation" or financing for the sake of financing. It is interesting to note that London wishes to become the centre of Islamic banking. Islamic Banking in Malaysia: Industry at Crossroads. Chi, L. BBC News. International Monetary Fund. Mair, M. Britain to lead the world in Islamic finance. The Telegraph. Panchal, P.
Its strong economy and international trade have led it to become a wealthy country with a high income. Singapore has won the annual Commonwealth Essay Competition nine times since it was launched in Scholarships for postgraduate study in integrative sciences and engineering are awarded by Singapore to citizens of other Commonwealth countries under the Commonwealth Scholarship and Fellowship Plan.
Site search. Key facts Region: Asia Population: 5. It also worked with Singapore to build its youth work skills. Learn more about the Secretariat's natural resources work High-tech economy Singapore built its economy on assembling electrical items and oil refining.
It received its third loan in after independence. Over the period to , Singapore received 14 loans from the World Bank. The first ten were exclusively in the infrastructure sectors and included water interconnection, port expansion, sewage, power and telecommunications - reflecting the recommendations of a World Bank analysis in of Singapore's economy.
By , Singapore's development focus expanded to investments in human capital and in the services sector, with the Bank supporting the capitalization of the Development Bank of Singapore DBS , the establishment of environmental management programs, and for the development of the national university. Support to infrastructure projects continued throughout. By the mids, the loans were repaid. It inspires many cities and countries striving to reach a similar level of development within one generation.
The World Bank Group Singapore office opened in September to share knowledge with local networks. Focused on advancing cross-border investments and mobilization of capital from and through Singapore, IFC also promotes urban development and the scaling up of disruptive technologies and new business models. Additionally, IFC engages with regional agribusiness players to promote sustainable practices.
Infrastructure Asia was established in by Enterprise Singapore, and the Monetary Authority of Singapore as a facilitation office for infrastructure and financing needs in the region, positioning Singapore as the regional infrastructure finance hub.
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