Introduction
The Republic of Singapore celebrated its 42 years of independence in year 2007. Situated at the southern tip of Malaysia, Singapore currently holds a population of 4.68 million as of June 2007. At 704.0km2, it is ranked 4th in the world for its population density. During the past four decades, the economy as measured by real Gross Domestic Product (GDP), multiplied by over 20 times (Ghesquiere, 2007, p.11). As a small and extremely open economy, Singapore long term survival is very much dependent on the ability to maintain its viable position and remain afloat in the sea of global competition (Mun Heng et al, 1998, p.14).
The discussion of this article (extracted from “The Straits Times” on 29th Dec 2007) focus on the low employment rate, booming of property and stock markets, inflation as well as the economic growth of Singapore concluding the year of 2007.
Economic growth of Singapore
Quoting from Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong in the National Rally 2006, he said that “to sustain growth and vitality in our economy, we need a growing population in Singapore with talents in every field.” This is due to the fact that Singapore has no natural resources and the only thing we have is people. In order to sustain growth in our economy, we have to make full use and advantage of our human resources. There is no doubt that Singapore cabinet of ministers drafted out excellent plan for Singapore's future, built spacious public housing, provides highly subsidised yet quality education and healthcare as well as setting up extensive and highly efficient infrastructure.
According to Ghesquiere (2007, p.21), there are four main sources that account for Singapore’s impressive economic growth. The first is the buildup of the stock of physical ...