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View Full Version : Chitchat Singapore declines under the failed leadership of LHL


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03-12-2016, 09:10 AM
An honorable member of the Coffee Shop Has Just Posted the Following:

TODAY 3 december 2016
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IF YOU haven’t been reading news reports about Singapore, TODAY has thoughtfully compiled a list of international rankings which showed that we are NOT Number 1 anymore, or where we’ve slipped in the rankings.

Here’s the run-down of Singapore’s slide this year:

Dropped from ninth to 10th place in Deloitte’s 2016 Global Manufacturing Competitiveness Index, which was last compiled three years ago.

Dropped from third to fourth place in Swiss business school IMD’s 2016 World Competitiveness Ranking released in May, saw Singapore falling one position to fourth, increasing the distance to traditional rival Hong Kong which claimed pole position after moving up from second place previously.

Dropped from first to second place in World Bank’s Ease of Doing Business Index, for the first time in 10 years. Singapore was pipped by New Zealand.

Dropped from 10th to 15th place in IMD’s World Talent Report 2016 released by IMD, because of lower scores in appeal to overseas talent, and investment and development of home grown talent.

The report has a whole host of observers and experts giving their views on the whys and the wherefores of the slippage, but with a common thread that Singapore had better buck up on productivity or cheaper/better places would eat our lunch.

Here’s something that we should be glad about that isn’t mentioned in the TODAY report:

Our students are still Number One in mathematics and science, according to Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (Timms). Its Primary Four and Secondary Two students outperformed their peers from 63 other countries in maths and science. Now, if this carries on for succeeding batches, we would at least have some human capital to fall back on, provided that these young people keep training and re-training after gaining a strong foundation.

There’s also this prediction from Mr Jerry Nickelsburg, an economist at UCLA Anderson School of Management, reported in ST. He was writing about how a Trump presidency with its protectionist and anti-immigrant stance might be good for some countries.

“We don’t know right now which places are going to be most competitive and achieve critical mass in innovative industries as the Pacific Rim centre shifts west.”

“My money would be on Singapore, with its English common law, low taxes, affluent and well-trained workforce, major universities and central location.”


Click here to view the whole thread at www.sammyboy.com (http://www.sammyboy.com/showthread.php?238479-Singapore-declines-under-the-failed-leadership-of-LHL&goto=newpost).