Singapore

The Republic of Singapore (Simplified Chinese: ??????; Pinyin: X?nji?p? Gònghéguó, Malay: Republik Singapura; Tamil: ??????????? ????????), is an island city-state in Southeast Asia, situated on the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, south of the Malaysian state of Johor and north of the Indonesian Riau Islands. Its coordinates are {{coor dm|1|17.583|N|103|51.333|E|region:SG_type:city(4425720)}}, just 137 km north of the Equator. The name Singapore was derived from Malay word singa (lion), which itself is derived from the Sanskrit word ???? siMha of the same meaning, and the Sanskrit word ??? pura (city) {{ref|sanskrit}}.

Economy

Even though it lacks natural resources, Singapore enjoys a highly developed free-market economy. It has one of the highest per capita gross domestic products in the world and is considered one of the "East Asian Tigers." The lack of natural resources means the economy depends heavily on exports produced from refining imported goods in a form of extended entrepot trade. This is especially true in electronics and manufacturing.

Related Topics:
Natural resources - Free-market economy - Gross domestic product - East Asian Tigers - Exports - Entrepot - Electronics - Manufacturing

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Singapore was hit hard in 2001 by the global recession and the slump in the technology sector, which caused the GDP that year to contract by 2.2 percent. The Economic Review Committee (ERC), set up in December 2001, made key recommendations in remaking Singapore's economy.

Related Topics:
2001 - Recession - Technology - December 2001

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Singapore introduced the Goods and Services Tax (GST) on April 1, 1994, starting at 3 percent. This has substantially increased government revenue as well assisted in maintaining the stability of the government's finances to spend on reforming the economy into more services and value added goods instead of relying on electronics manufacturing. The taxable GST is now at 5 percent, with the last increase in 2004.

Related Topics:
Goods and Services Tax - April 1 - 1994 - Value added good

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The economy has since recovered in response to improvements in the world economy, and grew by 8.4 percent in 2004. In the longer term the government hopes to establish a new growth path that will be less vulnerable to the external business cycle than the current export-led model, but is unlikely to abandon efforts to establish Singapore as Southeast Asia's financial and high-tech hub. The per capita GDP in 2005 is US$28,228. In the first quarter of 2005, the unemployment rate was 3.3 percent.

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With Taiwan, South Korea and Hong Kong it is known as one of the Four Dragons.

Related Topics:
Taiwan - South Korea - Hong Kong - Four Dragons

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