Economy of Singapore

Economy of Singapore
Skyline of Singapore's Downtown Core
CurrencySingapore dollar (SGD/S$)
1 April – 31 March
Trade organisations
WTO, APEC, CPTPP, IOR-ARC, RCEP, ASEAN and others
Country group
Statistics
PopulationIncrease 5,917,600 (Jun 2023)[3]
GDP
GDP rank
GDP growth
  • Increase 2.1% (2024)[5]
  • Increase 3.0% (2022f)[5]
  • Increase 2.3% (2023f)[5]
GDP per capita
  • Increase $93,956 (nominal; March 2025 est.)[4]
  • Increase $153,737 (PPP; 2025 est.)[4]
GDP per capita rank
GDP by sector
5.5% (Jan 2023)[7]
Population below poverty line
N/A
Steady 45.9 medium (2017)[6][a]
Steady 83 out of 100 points (2023, 5th rank)
Labour force
  • Increase 3,843,513 (2021)[9]
  • Increase 65.1% employment rate (2018)[10]
Labour force by occupation
Unemployment
  • Positive decrease 1.8% (March 2024 est.)[9]
Main industries
External
ExportsIncrease US$942 billion (2022)[11][12]
Export goods
Main export partners
ImportsIncrease US$870 billion (2022)[12]
Import goods
Main import partners
FDI stock
  • Increase $1.285 trillion (31 December 2017 est.)[6]
  • Increase Abroad: $841.4 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[6]
Increase $60.99 billion (2017 est.)[6]
Negative increase $168.3 billion (31 December 2017 est.)[b][6]
S$738.811 billion (Q1 2015)[15]
Public finances
167.8% of GDP (2022 est.)[c][6]
RevenuesS$69.45 billion (2017 est.)[16]
ExpensesS$75.07 billion (2017 est.)[16]
Economic aidN/A
Increase US$384.587 billion (August 2024)[19]
All values, unless otherwise stated, are in US dollars.

The economy of Singapore is a highly developed mixed market economy with dirigiste characteristics.[20][21][22][23] Singapore's economy has been consistently ranked as the most open in the world,[24] the joint 4th-least corrupt,[25] and the most pro-business.[26] Singapore has low tax-rates[27] and the third highest per-capita GDP in the world in terms of purchasing power parity (PPP). The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) is headquartered in Singapore.

Alongside the business-friendly reputation for global and local privately held companies and public companies, various national state-owned enterprises play a substantial role in Singapore's economy. The sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings holds majority stakes in several of the nation's largest bellwether companies, such as Singapore Airlines, Singtel, ST Engineering and Mediacorp. With regards to foreign direct investment (FDI), the Singaporean economy is a major FDI outflow-financier in the world. In addition, throughout its history, Singapore has benefited from the large inward flows of FDI from global investors, financial institutions and multinational corporations (MNCs) due to its highly attractive investment climate along with a stable and conducive political environment throughout its modern years.[28]

  1. ^ "World Economic Outlook Database, April 2019". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  2. ^ "World Bank Country and Lending Groups". datahelpdesk.worldbank.org. World Bank. Retrieved 29 September 2019.
  3. ^ "Population and Population Structure". Singstat. Department of Statistics Singapore. Retrieved 29 September 2023.
  4. ^ a b c d "World Economic Outlook Database, March 2024". IMF.org. International Monetary Fund. Retrieved 11 March 2024.
  5. ^ a b c https://www.imf.org/external/datamapper/profile/SGP [bare URL]
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h "The World Factbook". CIA.gov. Central Intelligence Agency. Retrieved 6 April 2019.
  7. ^ "International Investment Position". singstat.gov.sg. Department of Statistics Singapore. Retrieved 4 December 2023.
  8. ^ a b "Human Development Report 2023/2024" (PDF). United Nations Development Programme. 13 March 2024. Archived (PDF) from the original on 13 March 2024. Retrieved 30 April 2024.
  9. ^ a b "Summary Table: Unemployment". IMF. Retrieved 12 February 2021.
  10. ^ "Employment to population ratio, 15+, total (%) (national estimate) – Singapore". data.worldbank.org. World Bank. Retrieved 6 October 2019.
  11. ^ "Singapore – WTO Statistics Database". World Trade Organization. Archived from the original on 4 October 2017. Retrieved 1 March 2017.
  12. ^ a b "Where did Singapore export to in 2018?". Retrieved 24 September 2021.
  13. ^ "Exports Of Services By Major Trading Partner". Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  14. ^ "Imports Of Services By Major Trading Partner". Retrieved 9 May 2023.
  15. ^ "Net international investment position as at Q1 2015". Department Of Statistics Singapore. 2015. Archived from the original on 1 May 2016. Retrieved 16 September 2015.
  16. ^ a b "Operating Revenue and Total Expenditure as at 2017 estimate" (PDF). Singapore Budget 2017. 20 February 2017. Archived from the original (PDF) on 23 February 2017. Retrieved 23 February 2017.
  17. ^ "Sovereigns rating list". Standard & Poor's. Archived from the original on 28 September 2011. Retrieved 26 May 2011.
  18. ^ a b c Rogers, Simon; Sedghi, Ami (15 April 2011). "How Fitch, Moody's and S&P rate each country's credit rating". The Guardian. Archived from the original on 1 August 2013. Retrieved 28 May 2011.
  19. ^ "Official Foreign Reserves". Monetary Authority of Singapore. Archived from the original on 25 September 2024. Retrieved 15 October 2024.
  20. ^ Central Intelligence Agency (6 August 2012). "The World Factbook". cia.gov. Retrieved 13 August 2012.
  21. ^ Ministry of Trade and Industry Singapore. "Free Market System". mti.gov.sg. Archived from the original on 7 October 2015. Retrieved 11 December 2018.
  22. ^ Huff, W.G. (1 December 1995). "What is the Singapore model of economic development?". Cambridge Journal of Economics. doi:10.1093/oxfordjournals.cje.a035339. ISSN 1464-3545.
  23. ^ Nolan, Peter (1990). "Assessing economic growth in the Asian NICs". Journal of Contemporary Asia. 20 (1): 41–63. doi:10.1080/00472339080000031. ISSN 0047-2336.
  24. ^ World Economic Forum. "Global Enabling Trade Report" (PDF). Archived from the original (PDF) on 29 July 2012.
  25. ^ "Corruption Perceptions Index 2018 Executive Summary p. 8" (PDF). transparency.org. Transparency International. Archived (PDF) from the original on 21 April 2019. Retrieved 27 April 2019.
  26. ^ "World Bank Doing Business Report 2012". World Bank. Archived from the original on 24 May 2013. Retrieved 27 May 2013.
  27. ^ "Country Rankings". 2013 Index of Economic Freedom. The Heritage Foundation. 2013. Archived from the original on 20 July 2009. Retrieved 18 April 2013.
  28. ^ "World Investment Report, Chapter 1: Global Investment Trends" (PDF). unctad-docs.org. United Nations Conference on Trade and Development. Archived from the original (PDF) on 21 October 2012. Retrieved 1 June 2013.


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