Growth, inclusion and sustainability in a post-pandemic world

LET me focus my remarks on the prospects for growth, inclusion, and sustainability in a post-pandemic world. I would say from the outset that my views of the world are shaped by the circumstances of a small country. After all, Singapore is a city-state without a domestic hinterland. In many ways, we are like the proverbial canary in the mine, because we are often among the first to be buffeted by global economic storms.

It also means that we take a deep interest in the world, and keep looking out for risks and opportunities, both for ourselves and the global system as a whole. Like what's happening with the current headwinds in the global economy. Economies everywhere have still not fully recovered from the lingering effects of Covid-19, especially in restoring supply chains.

We now face another major challenge, precipitated by the war in Ukraine. We are not out of the frying pan, but already into another fire. These headwinds accentuate and interact with the structural challenges of growth, inclusion and sustainability in complex ways.