Lee Hsien Loong

Lee Hsien Loong, the Prime Minister of Singapore, said in his National Day Message that the country’s economy expanded 3.5% in the first half of the year, bringing the rest of the year’s growth forecast to between 2.5% and 3.5% and that the chances of technical recession are very low this year. Interesting, right?

Singapore: More details about the economic growth numbers of Singapore’s first half and second quarter will be released in the upcoming week, however, a headline number was provided by Lee Hsien Loong in his National Day Message stating that the first half GDP growth is 3.5%. If 3.5% growth is sustained in the first half, then the growth of the quarter to quarter will need to be paced up. Jeff Ng, Standard Chartered Bank economist, said that this why the growth target has been narrowed.

Francis Tan, United Overseas Bank economist said that for the second quarter, Singapore might experience negative growth concerning the quarter on quarter growth. However, a possibility of negative growth cannot be seen in the third quarter which is why Francis Tan has shared his idea that the risk of technical recession will not be seen in Singapore at all this year.

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The Prime Minister of Singapore, pointed out the world has many opportunities for enterprising, but also makes individuals feels uncertain about future events like maritime disputes in South China Sea, armed disputes in Palestine and Gaza, etc, which is why a nation’s economy should be improved.

Lee said that education was a major part of accomplishing this task. For this, a team tasked with reviewing Institute of Technical Education and Polytechnic studies was expected to share its recommendations on how to assist Singaporean students to obtain the required skills to be successful in a changing economic environment.

Lee assured them that they would help them to acquire the appropriate skills, so they can progress in their careers. He emphasized the need for social values and how important it is to not judge people only by their academic qualifications.

For citizens who had retired from work, the Prime Minister shared his idea to improve retirement adequacy and make it simpler for retirees to obtain cash out of their state built apartments in a sustainable manner.

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Even with such improvements this year, analysts believe that the next half year will be quite a challenge with increasing geopolitical tensions and health issues like the Ebola issue. On top of that, Singapore has to face its restructuring issues as well as it attempt to accomplish better productivity for its nation and economy.