PRESS RELEASE 
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NOT FOR PUBLICATION, OR DISTRIBUTION BY NEWS AGENCIES UNTIL 
1400 GENEVA TIME ( 1200  GMT) 14 JULY 2008  
 
PRESS/TPRB/302 
14 July 2008 
 
(08-3355) 
 
TRADE POLICY REVIEW: SINGAPORE 
A successful economy, open to trade and investment 
Singapore’s economy, in terms of international trade and foreign investment, remains one of the 
most open and competitive in the world with an annual average real GDP growth of 7,9% for the 
last four years, according to a WTO Secretariat report on the trade practices and policies of Singapore.  
This high degree of openness leaves Singapore vu lnerable to periodic external shocks, but the 
economy’s flexibility has enabled it to adjust ra pidly to these shocks by improving productivity, 
and thus international competitiveness, which in turn contributes to economic growth and higher living standards. 
 
In the long term, as city-state of around 4.5 mil lion people, which is heavily dependent on trade in 
goods in services, Singapore will need to rely more on domestic consumption as a source of 
growth to help balance fluctuations in external  demand and thus reduce its vulnerability to 
external shocks.  
The WTO report, along with a policy statement by the Government of Singapore, will be the basis 
for the fifth TPR of Singapore by the Trade Polic y Review Body of the WTO on 14 and 16 July 2008. 
 
The following documents are available in MS Wo rd format on the WTO web-site. They can be 
downloaded at http://www.wto.org/english/ tratop_e/tpr_e/tp302htm  
 
• Secretariat reports 
> Contents and summary observations  > Economic environment  
> Trade and investment regimes  
> Trade policies and practices by measure  > Trade policies by sector  
> Appendix tables  
• Report by Government of Singapore 
• Chairperson’s concluding remarks  
• Minutes of the meeting (available appr oximately six weeks after the meeting). PRESS/TPRB/302 
Page 2 of 2 
 
 
Note 
Trade Policy Reviews are an exercise, mandated in the WTO Agreement, in which member countries’ trade and related policies are examined and evaluated at regular intervals. Significant 
developments that may have an impact on the global trading system are also monitored. For each 
review, two documents are prepared: a policy stat ement by the government of the member under 
review, and a detailed report written independently by the WTO Secretariat. These two documents are then discussed by the WTO’s full membership in  the Trade Policy Review Body (TPRB). These 
documents and the proceedings of the TPRB’s meetings are published shortly afterwards.  
 Print copies of the TPR publications are available for sale from the WTO Secretariat, Centre William 
Rappard, 154 rue de Lausanne, 1211 Genève 21 and through the on-line bookshop at 
https://secure.vtx.ch/shop/boutiques/wto_index_boutique.html  or follow this path :  
www.wto.org >resources > publications > trade policy reviews  
 
The TPR publications are also available from our co-publisher Bernan Press , 4611-F Assembly Drive, Lanham, MD 20706-4391, United States 
Next reviews: 
Barbados: 17 and 19 September 2008 
Republic of Korea: 8 and 10 October 2008 
Norway: 22 and 24 October 2008 
 For a full list of previous trade policy reviews and the full programme of future reviews go to 
http://www.wto.org/english/trat op_e/tpr_e/tpr_ e.htm#reviews 
or follow this path : www.wto.org > trade topics > trade policy reviews  
 
 
END