Goh sees bright prospect

Goh sees bright prospect

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Singapore's economy is expected to grow by eight to nine percent in 1995 after two years of double-digit expansion, Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong said on Saturday.

"We achieved exceptional growth of 10.0 percent (in 1994), as high as in 1993," he said in a New Year message. Goh said the outlook for 1995 remained good on the back of strong domestic position and favorable international conditions.

He said the 1994 growth was broad-based, with manufacturing and construction sectors doing especially well.

The prosperous island-state attracted a record S$5.8 billion (US$3.97 billion) of manufacturing investment commitments, mainly in capital-intensive industries, despite stronger competition for investments from its neighbors, he said.

Goh said Singapore, with its per capita gross domestic product equivalent to US$20,000 the 16th highest in the world, has become a middle-income country, but it is still achieving high growth rates more typical of dynamic developing countries.

He also said in view of a borderless economic world there was a need to make sure its ablest and most talented Singaporeans stay here as they are the ones who create wealth and jobs.

To do so, Singapore must strengthen its unique characteristics of the society which root Singaporeans at home. "Singapore can offer its citizens the best of both words -- a comfortable, developed city where crime rates are low and families feel safe, and there are opportunities galore in a region that is taking off," Goh said.