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What About Singapore?

Someone has just mentioned Singapore comparing its economic development with some Arab countries. So, I felt I should add a note to an old post.

Referring to a capitalist country with a small population  – 2 million in 1970 and 2.4 million in 1980 when  Singapore’s economic development was apace – is not a good way of comparing countries.

“Only 7 years after its independence (1972), Singapore had become a foreign investment magnet. More than one-fourth of Singapore's manufacturing firms partnered with or were owned by a foreign entity. The majority of the investors came from the United States and Japan. The country also achieved a double-digit economic growth rate every year.”

For internal and external reasons countries like Tunisia (the one my interlocutor compared to Singapore), Morocco, Syria and Egypt did not enjoy such foreign funding. 

In 2022, Singapore was ranked 139th out of 180 nations by Reporters Without Borders on the global Press Freedom Index. Freedom House ranks Singapore as "partly free" in its Freedom in the World report, and the Economist Intelligence Unit ranks Singapore as a "flawed democracy", the second freest rank of four, in its "Democracy Index". All public gatherings of five or more people require police permits, and protests may legally be held only at the Speakers' Corner.

Related

What about South Korea?

South Korea's 1980's 'concentration camp'

The South Korean economy of today has a background in brutality, the Korean War, a military dictatorship-led development, government-chaebol cooperation, achieving high productivity with acquiring technology and imposing the longest working hours in the world in the 1960s, a big foreign aid (especially from the U.S. and Japan) ...



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