Instruction: Is Singapore a good place to develop wealth?

Context: Economy
Main article: Economy of Singapore
Singapore Airlines celebrated the nation's Golden Jubilee with a flag livery on its Airbus A380
Singapore Airlines, the country's flag carrier, celebrated the nation's 2015 Golden Jubilee with a flag livery on its Airbus A380.
Singapore has a highly developed market economy, based historically on extended entrepôt trade. Along with Hong Kong, South Korea, and Taiwan, Singapore is one of the Four Asian Tigers, and has surpassed its peers in terms of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) per capita. Between 1965 and 1995, growth rates averaged around 6 per cent per annum, transforming the living standards of the population.[222]

The Singaporean economy is regarded as free,[223] innovative,[224] dynamic[225] and business-friendly.[226] For several years, Singapore has been one of the few[227] countries with an AAA credit rating from the big three, and the only Asian country to achieve this rating.[228] Singapore attracts a large amount of foreign investment as a result of its location, skilled workforce, low tax rates, advanced infrastructure and zero-tolerance against corruption.[229] It is the world's most competitive economy in 2019, according to the World Economic Forum's ranking of 141 countries,[230] with the 2nd highest GDP per capita.[231][232] Roughly 44 percent of the Singaporean workforce is made up of non-Singaporeans.[233] Despite market freedom, Singapore's government operations have a significant stake in the economy, contributing 22% of the GDP.[234] The city is a popular location for conferences and events.[235]

The currency of Singapore is the Singapore dollar (SGD or S$), issued by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).[236] It has been interchangeable with the Brunei dollar at par value since 1967.[237] MAS manages its monetary policy by allowing the Singapore dollar exchange rate to rise or fall within an undisclosed trading band. This is different from most central banks, which use interest rates to manage policy.[238] Singapore has the world's eleventh largest foreign reserves,[239] and one of the highest net international investment position per capita.[240][241]

Singapore has been identified as a tax haven[242] for the wealthy due to its low tax rates on personal income and tax exemptions on foreign-based income and capital gains. Individuals such as Australian millionaire retailer Brett Blundy and multi-billionaire Facebook co-founder Eduardo Saverin are two examples of wealthy individuals who have settled in Singapore.[243] In 2009, Singapore was removed from the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) "liste grise" of tax havens,[244] and ranked fourth on the Tax Justice Network's 2015 Financial Secrecy Index of the world's off-shore financial service providers, banking one-eighth of the world's offshore capital, while "providing numerous tax avoidance and evasion opportunities".[245] In August 2016, The Straits Times reported that Indonesia had decided to create tax havens on two islands near Singapore to bring Indonesian capital back into the tax base.[246] In October 2016, the Monetary Authority of Singapore admonished and fined UBS and DBS and withdrew Falcon Private Bank's banking licence for their alleged role in the Malaysian Sovereign Fund scandal.[247][248]


Panoramic view of the Central Business District
Singapore has the world's highest percentage of millionaires, with one out of every six households having at least one million US dollars in disposable wealth. This excludes property, businesses, and luxury goods, which if included would increase the number of millionaires, especially as property in Singapore is among the world's most expensive.[249] In 2016, Singapore was rated the world's most expensive city for the third consecutive year by the Economist Intelligence Unit,[250][251] and this remained true in 2018.[252] The government provides numerous assistance programmes to the homeless and needy through the Ministry of Social and Family Development, so acute poverty is rare. Some of the programmes include providing between S$400 and S$1000 of financial assistance per month to needy households, providing free medical care at government hospitals, and paying for children's tuition.[253][254][255] Other benefits include compensation for gym fees to encourage citizens to exercise,[256] up to S$166,000 as a baby bonus for each citizen,[257] heavily subsidised healthcare, financial aid for the disabled, the provision of reduced-cost laptops for poor students,[258] rebates for costs such as public transport[259] and utility bills, and more.[260][261] As of 2018 Singapore's ranking in the Human Development Index is 9th in the world, with an HDI value of 0.935.[262]

Response: Singapore economy is regarded as free,[223] innovative,[224] dynamic[225] and business-friendly. Singapore has the world's highest percentage of millionaires, with one out of every six households having at least one million US dollars in disposable wealth.