News: Stock of US investment in Singapore takes a dive

“The stock of US direct investments in Singapore plunged 16 per cent from the year before to US$48 billion in 2005.

The fall is the only decline anywhere in the Asia-Pacific region which, on the whole, saw US investments rise from US$362.8 billion to US$376.8 billion in book value terms.”

Wow. This is shocking news. Even for a person like me who is skeptical about the strategy of relying on foreign investment to sustain the economy, these are truly shocking statistics! One would be concerned with a 1-2% decline, but a 16% decline? And the only country in the Asia-Pacific region to experience it? If this trend continues, Singapore’s economy will have to place a premium on entrepreneurship, and place less emphasis on trying to get a safe and secure job at an MNC or GLC. This signals a structural shift in the economic centre of gravity from the Government and MNCs towards the hands of entrepreneurs and SMEs. I have asked Singapore Economist and Singapore Entrepreneurs to comment on the article, hope they do.

You can find the entire article at Business Times here, but for the benefit of those who have not got BT subscription I have cut and paste the article below

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