Securing Singapore's prosperity amid greater global uncertainty

SINGAPORE embodies many qualities that other cities aspire to. It is orderly, clean, and liveable, and a welcoming place to start a business or raise a family. More than five million people of different ethnicities, languages, and religions live side by side in a culture that offers a beguiling mix of the exotic and the familiar. And the state is deeply integrated with the rest of the world through the cross-border transmission of goods, services, information, capital and people.

For the past five years Singapore's standing as a global city has peaked during the Singapore Summit and the Singapore Formula 1 Night Race. But this year's Summit-Formula 1 weekend was set against a troubling backdrop. The past half-century, a period of economic growth that buoyed governments, households, and companies, is coming to an imminent close.

The shock of the 2008 global financial crisis triggered the first recorded drop in global GDP. Since then, the hangover has persisted. Singapore and many other states have struggled with unexpectedly weak recoveries. Singapore's quarterly growth has not exceeded 3 per cent for the past seven quarters. And the long-term economic outlook is gloomy. The government recently lowered the upper limit for its growth projections from 3 per cent to 2 per cent.