Singapore's economy contracted in the second quarter as sluggish global demand and government restrictions on foreign labour affected the manufacturing sector, raising the prospect of further monetary easing later this year.
I haven't been out Singapore-bashing for a long, long time and the itch to get some in just cannot be denied any longer.
The breakdown by industrial sector for these Singapore second-quarter figures is not yet available but the first chart shows that the trend has been well established for the past eight years. The Singapore manufacturing sector is on its way down.
Even at 17 per cent of gross domestic product, however, down from 27 per cent 10 years ago, the question arises: why still as high as 17 per cent?
Here we have a small island state with a tiny domestic market, a strong currency, high wages, little land area, little proprietary technology, a small domestic workforce and a commercial tradition only of shipping and trading. Since when has this been a prescription for a successful manufacturing base?