1972

Singapore gained independence in 1965, and 1972 marks a year where Singapore’s agricultural exports were beginning their final peak before their rapid industrialisation, and agricultural descent. At this point the finance sector of the nation was in its infancy, making up just 0.4% of the Singapore’s GDP.

This period was an economic boom for most of the world, and while this did affect Singapore’s private sector, which saw huge growth, it was nothing compared to what was to come for the small nation.

In 1994, Singapore took advantage of its location and timezone to birth a new exchange. During this period Singapore’s banks were deregulated leading to massive growth in its financial sector. Shortly after this growth, strict regulation was put in place, which can be seen in the sharp downturn on the graph.

Rapid industrialisation saw the importance of services to the Singapore economy grow, as evidenced by the increasing share of the financial and business sectors of the economy.

In the present day, Singapore has a highly developed and successful free-market economy. It enjoys a remarkably open and corruption-free environment, stable prices, and a per capita GDP higher than that of most developed countries. Unemployment is very low. The economy depends heavily on exports, particularly of consumer electronics, information technology products, and financial services.

Singapore’s most significant advantage today is it’s ideal location as a place to manage wealth, especially for rich Chinese businessmen and investors. Being within Asia, yet safe from strict Chinese government laws.