S'pore pushes regional investment strategy
S'pore pushes regional investment strategy
SINGAPORE (AFP): Singapore yesterday outlined plans to pursue
an aggressive regional investment program as part of a strategy
to underpin its status as an Asian economic power and join the
"first league" of developed nations by 2000.
The city-state of three million people, officially classified
as a developed country this month, maintained its ranking as the
fifth biggest investor in China last year, and was second in
Thailand and Burma, officials said.
According to figures released by the Economic Development
Board (EDB), the agency overseeing the "regionalization" thrust,
approved Singapore investments in China totaled US$1.6 billion in
the six months to June 1995.
Singapore was the eighth largest investor in India, with $80
million for the same period, the EDB said, and was number six in
Vietnam and Indonesia.
"All this points to one thing: we continue to maintain our
momentum in regional investment," Chua Taik Him, director of
international business development at the EDB, told a news
conference.
The drive is focused on five "flagship projects" led by the
Suzhou Industrial Park near Shanghai, which has drawn 45
international companies with $1.4 billion in investment, the EDB
said.
In such projects, Singapore teams up with host-country firms
and multinationals to set up industrial zones with their own
power and sewage systems and reliable access to ports and
airports.
One park is flourishing in Indonesia's Batam island, with 81
tenants employing 42,000 employees and a combined industrial
output of $900 million. Singapore is also putting money into a
major resort in another Indonesian island, Bintan.
An information-technology park was launched in Bangalore,
India last September, while the 500-hectare (1,200-acre) Vietnam-
Singapore Industrial Park near Ho Chi Minh city Costing $200
million, is to be launched soon.
According to a national strategy dubbed "Singapore 2000," the
island "intends to join the first league of developed nations by
the turn of the century," an EDB statement said.
This new goal was set after Singapore, which now has a per-
capita gross domestic product of $24,000, reached its goal of
crashing into the developed nations' club three years ahead of
the target year 1999.
Tax incentives
The EDB said it was poised for more co-investments with
multinationals in the region this year, while continuing to
nurture outward-bound local firms with tax incentives, capital
infusions and investment guarantees.
As part of the effort, the first Overseas Enterprise Incentive
awards were given yesterday to two local firms which have
established a strong regional presence --- Asia Pacific Breweries
Ltd. and Broadway Enterprises Pte. Ltd.
The brewery, maker of Tiger beer, and Broadway, a packaging
company, were given tax exemptions on income remitted to
Singapore, giving them more funds to invest in upgrading and
further investments.
"The growth of these enterprises will be driven by external
markets and opportunities, especially in the region, and result
in spin-offs to the Singapore economy," an EDB statement said.
Chua said the regionalization efforts of local companies were
growing in tandem with domestic investments, allaying earlier
fears that the outflow of capital would result in a "hollowing
out" of the local economy.
Singapore, whose backbone domestic industry is electronics, is
striving to further raise the skills of its tight and highly paid
labor pool to shift to higher value-added industries amid
intensifying competition from low-cost neighbors.