Tuesday, 13th.
Dear G-L,
Part 1:" Singapore´s economic growth since
independence until now."
Founded as a British Trading colony in 1819, Singapore became an independent
state in 1965. At the time of its independence Singapore was faced with
terrible economic and social crisis. Unemployment was high increasing.
There was also an acute shortage of housing, inadequate health facilities
compounded by a high population growth rate of 4.4 per cent per annum
between 1947 and 1957.
For the first two decades of its independence, Singapore enjoyed continuous
high economic growth, largely outperforming the world economy. It´s GDP
growth rate never fell below 5 per cent and rose in some years as high as 15
per cent. At the same time, Singapore managed to maintain an inflation rate
below world averages.
Singapore´s GDP grew 15 times in one generation, from 3 billion US dollars
in 1965 to an astronomical 46 billion US dollars in 1997. Annual per capita
income grew from less than 1000 US dollars at the time of independence to
nearly 30,000 US dollars at present, the eighth highest in the world in
1997/98.
The general literacy rates have increased by 20 per cent for males and 46
per cent for females.
The literacy rate today is over 90 per cent, one of the highest rates in
Asia.
Singapore´s economic growth in the last 35 years occurred in the context
of a unique combination of political, economic and social factors. A tiny
island without natural resources, inadequate water supply or a defense
capable of its own, Singapore was gripped by uncertainty over it´s survival
at the time of independence. The three and a half years of Japanese
occupation in 1942 to 1945 were alive in the memory of Singapore´s
first -generation leaders, whose decision-making was largely predicated in
the struggle for survival. The fear of being swallowed and the cold-war
atmosphere influenced the domestic political climate.
Part 2, coming up on Thursday, 14th we will be looking into the major
forces and the man behind Singapore´s success story. Until then!
Thanks for sharing!
SS.Jawara
Stockholm, Sweden.
SS.Jawara
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
To unsubscribe/subscribe or view archives of postings, go to the Gambia-L Web interface
at: http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/gambia-l.html
To contact the List Management, please send an e-mail to:
[log in to unmask]
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
|
