Singapore Macro Environment

Singapore economy is one of the best performers. In the 2nd quarter of 2013, Singapore economy posted a 3. 7 per cent on-year growth. On a quarter-on- quarter seasonally-adjusted annelids basis, the economy grew by 15. 2 per cent, faster than the 1. 8 per cent growth in the previous quarter. The increase is supported by supported by robust growth in the manufacturing wholesale and retail trade, transportation and storage, and finance and insurance sectors. Singapore residential market has a strong end-user demand as evidenced from the vacancy rates of around 5 to 6 per cent.

With a high utilization rate, it means that the mortgages will get paid either by the owner-occupier or by the landlord who has let out the home to a tenant. Coupled with an employment rate of just below 2 per cent, we can expect that mortgage default risks will remain low, as cheap borrowing costs could last till late 2015. The construction sector grew by 1 1. 2 percent, faster than the 10. 3 percent growth in the preceding quarter. Singapore is one of the most business-friendly countries in the world.

According to the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom, Singapore is the 2nd freest economy in the world.

Singapore business freedom score is exceptionally high – it takes three days to start a business in Singapore compared to the world’s average of thirty-four days. Apart from strong cuisines and regulatory policies, other factors such as the country’s strategic geographic position, a vast natural seaport, a highly skilled workforce and a favorable tax regime. Social Singapore has a multi-racial and multi-religious character, where giving fair treatment to all races in education, housing and health is considered very important.

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The minorities are assured of equal representation in Parliament through the Group Representation Constituency or GAR system. The total population in Singapore was last recorded at 5. 3 million in 201 2 by the Statistics Singapore (http://www. Tragicomedies. Com/Singapore/ population). The population is highly diverse; the majority are Chinese with almost 75% of the total population, while Malay and Underperforming significant minorities. Reflecting this diversity, the county has four official languages: English, Malay, Chinese, and Tamil, whereby 90% Of population speak English.

S engraver’s lifestyle is multi-cultural with each of these ethnic communities maintaining their unique way of life and at the same time living harmoniously. In December 2011, Singapore had 3. 27 million Singapore Citizens (CSS), and 0. 54 million Permanent Residents (Pros) that made up the resident population f 3. 81 million. The country also had a non-resident population of 1. 46 million who are working, studying or living in Singapore on a non-permanent basis. As of the year 201 0, Singapore literacy rate is 95. 86% of the population. The high rate is attributed to the government’s free education among the citizens. Http://yachts. Com/indicators/Singapore_adult_literacy_rate The country has a strong social system which offers social benefits to its citizens, who are likewise obliged to contribute a minimum of 10% of their salaries into Central Provident Fund for public pension and retirement fund. Singapore society is sophisticated due to the influx of foreigners over the years. Along with it comes an open mind and respect for all nationalities. People are sociable and courteous to each other. High emphasis is placed on public and racial agreement. Singapore are honest, highly disciplined and extremely hard-working.

There is respect for seniority, authority and social norms. While individualism is important, Singapore is a society that honors socialism. Racism is taken seriously in the country. The Singapore government has laid down five basic ‘Shared Vales’ to develop a distinct Singapore identity – nation before community and society above self; family as the basic unit of society; community support and respect for the individual; consensus not conflict; racial and religious harmony. Due to the recent influx of foreign talent in Singapore, housing is no longer as cheap as it used to be.

The year 2011 saw unprecedented growth in the property market and expects felt the pinch as well. However, when compared to Hong Kong or Japan, housing is still affordable in Singapore. Housing falls under two main categories – public HAD flats (built by the Housing Development Board) and private condos/bungalows. The choice of housing purely depends on budget, location, facilities/amenities, transportation and personal preferences. Technological Singapore has a world class reputation for developing, implementing and innovating new technologies and is considered as one of the most developed IT infrastructure in the world.

The country’s main exports are electronic and technological products. Singapore believes that information technology is a fundamental ingredient to strengthen a country. Singapore aims to become an IT-city state. To accomplish its goal, Singapore equipped every home, office and hotels with broadband, no matter wired or airless. The country is required by regulation of installing broadband in every newly-built household. Singapore has a high literacy rate of 95. 8% if the total population. The government is inculcating information technology in the education to children from first grade and above.

This is to ensure that the new generation will become adept and skilled in the latest technology. According to research made by Nielsen, 85% of digital consumers in Singapore own an internet, capable mobile phone, 23% of Singapore internet users have a tablet computer in their home. Http://www. So. Nielsen. Mom/site/Instrumentalities 2011 . SHTML Singapore construction sector has been seeing positive growth since adopting building information technology aimed at enhancing productivity, data shows.

In fact, about 65 percent of 1 ,OHO companies polled by the Building and Construction Authority (BCC) are already using Building Information Modeling (MM). This is an increase from 28 percent in 2010 when BCC pushed for the implementation of IBM. The agency aims to achieve an 80 percent adoption of the technology by 2015. After three years, BCC Chief Executive John Gung said it was “about time to eve all of you a report card on the progress”. The technology involves the generation and management of AD building designs, allowing building models to be shared easily with minimal loss of information. Http://www. Property’s. Com. So/property-management- news/2013/8/36360/65-of-co nest action-industry- uses-state-of-the-art- gal The Singapore Constitution is a supreme written law which states the basic freedom of individuals and the structure and organization of Singapore Executive, Legislation and Judiciary. A highlight of Singapore Legal System is the strong anti-corruption law. In Singapore, the penalty for any person convicted in a corruption Can either receive a fine of up to $1 00,000 or up to five year of imprisonment or both.

If the incidence involved government contracts or parliament member or a member of public service, the penalty of imprisonment will increase to 7 years. The corruption rate in the country is one of the lowest in the world. Buying a property in Singapore could be considered the most “expensive” of purchases in the lifetime of most Singapore, especially with today’s high property prices. Whether the property is for one’s own use or for investment, t is a financial commitment that one has to maintain as long as the housing loan is not fully repaid or the property is not sold.

The latest property cooling measures introduced by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MASS) in January are timely in reducing the increasing investment and speculative demand in the property market spurred by the extremely low interest rate environment. Other than imposing higher additional buyer’s stamp duty (ABS) rates for the purchase of residential properties, reducing borrowing limits and increasing the cash downplaying, MASS has also introduced new rules overriding loans for Housing and Development Board (HAD) flats.

One of the rules states that if a buyer takes a housing mortgage from a financial institution for the purchase of an HAD flat, the mortgage servicing ratio (MS) is capped at 30 per cent of the borrower’s monthly income. MS is the proportion Of a borrower’s gross monthly income going towards home loan repayment only. This is the first time that such a rule has been imposed on loans from banks, which is mainly to prevent excessive lending as well as to ensure that buyers do not overstretch their finances, especially for HAD resale flat buyers.

Most importantly, it is to encourage home owners to go for properties that are within their means. Http://www. Businessmen. Com. So/specials/bat- supplements/housing-loan-tips-20130301 The Central Provident Fund Act (Cap. 36) Employers are required by law to contribute to the Central Provident Fund (“CPRM’). The CAP was essentially set up as an old-age savings scheme for employees. With time, the scheme has evolved into a comprehensive social security savings system providing financial security in old age in meeting the needs of its members in retirement, healthcare, home-ownership, family retention and asset enhancement.

Under the scheme, employers are to ensure that CAP contributions are paid monthly for its employees at the rates set Out in the Central Provident Fund Act (Cap. 36). The employer is entitled to recover a percentage of that contribution from the employee through deductions from the employee’s wages. This occurs when wages are paid out. For illustration purpose, the contribution rate applicable to an employee who is 50 years and below is currently 33% of the employees wages for the month (up to an ordinary wage ceiling as stipulated from time to time).

The employer is entitled to recover from the employee an amount equivalent to 20% of the employee’s wages for the month (subject to caps stipulated from time to time). Http://mad. Goodwill’s. Com/information/ Gu PDF In Singapore the Central Provident Fund is a compulsory comprehensive savings plan for working Singapore and permanent residents primarily to fund their retirement, healthcare, and housing needs. It is administered by the Central Provident Fund Board, a statutory board under the Ministry of Manpower. The employer has to contribute 15. % of the employee’s monthly Ross salary while the employee contributes of his monthly gross salary. The CAP was started on 1 July 1955. (http://en. Wisped. Org/wick/ Central_Provident_Fund) Still, even with the emphasis placed on home improvement, the Singapore government imposes restrictions on renovating HOBS, where majority of the population live. Renovation contractors must be registered under the HAD and are given four months to complete the renovation project. Noisy works, such as removing walls and floor tiles, can only be done at specified days and times.

Renovators are not allowed to drill house and to paint the exterior alls with a color that is different from that of the structure’s facade. The restrictions are imposed in order to ensure neatness and safety, as well as to avoid disturbing one’s neighbors. Different countries may have different notions on what home improvements are acceptable or not, but all recognize its importance. Because of this, home improvement is widely discussed on the Internet. The websites that we have listed below according to their popularity and ratings provide a thorough guide to home improvement. Http://www. Had. Gob. So/if 1 D/if 1 IPPP. SF/w/ Homogeneousness? Abandonment Environment Singapore aims to deliver and sustain a clean and healthy environment and water resources for all Singapore. The government is focusing on Air, Water, land and energy/climate change. Singapore is eliminating the air pollution by setting regulation and standards of stringent emission, promotion or energy efficiency and introducing natural energy. The country achieved in good range for at least 85% if the days in SSI (Pollutant Standards Index) from year 2003 to 2006 and also the pollutant lever are managed to stay within the SEEPS (United States Environmental Protection Agency) tankard.

There are two strategies for Stationery and Mobile sectors. For the Stationery sector, the government is working on the city planning and locations of the factories to reduce the impact of air pollution to the country. For the Mobile sector, the government is reducing the emission of vehicles and applying the newest regulation of emission on diesel vehicles, so that encourage the drive use more public transportation or using environmental friendly cars and energy then the emission will be reduced sharply.

Water is a scarcity in the globe, especially in this island state, the main source f water is rainwater and the government is building more cattlemen to collect the rainwater. However the land used for the catchments is huge and Singapore is lack of land so the government seeks for other ways of getting potable water. The government is developing the technology of purifying and desalination of sea water. A desalination plan worth IIS$1 19 million has been running since September 2005.

The plant is capable of producing 1 14 million liters Of potable water per day with the price of LOS$46/liter, which wiped off the threats of price increase of Malaysia. Due to the agreement sign The Central Building Plan Unit (CUP) of NEE provides one-stop service for clearance of Industrial Allocation/Land use applications, Development Control (DC) Plans and Building/Detailed Plans (BP/EDP) for development proposals on environmental matters consisting of Pollution Control, Environmental Health, Sewerage/Sanitary and Drainage Matters.

CUP screens and assesses the hazards and pollution impacts of the proposed development to ensure that they do not pose unmanageable health and safety hazards and pollution problems, and do not generate wastes that cannot be safely managed and properly disposed off. Http://www. Bcc. Gob. So/ Publications/others/ Guide_on_Construction_of_Industrial_Developments_in_Singapore. UDF clearance of Industrial Allocation/l_Andes applications, Development Control (DC) Plans and Building/Detailed Plans (PAID) for development proposals on environmental matters consisting of Pollution Control, Environmental Health, Sewerage/Sanitary and Drainage Matters. To ensure that Singapore continue to enjoy a quality living environment, environmental considerations and factors are incorporated at the land use planning, development control and building control stages so as to minimize illusion impacts to the environment, mitigate nuisance impacts to surrounding land use and safeguard environmental health.

CUP screens and assesses the hazards and pollution impacts of the proposed industries at the Industrial Allocation (IA) stage to ensure that they do not pose unmanageable health and safety hazards and pollution problems, and do not generate wastes that cannot be safely managed and properly disposed off. A proposed factory will be allowed only if it is sited in an appropriate industrial estate, is compatible with the surrounding land use and can comply with the pollution control requirements. The sitting requirements for industries and pollution control requirements are specified in the Code of Practice on Pollution Control.

The Water Reclamation (Network) Department, PUB or PUB(WREN) plans, operates and maintains the public sewerage network and also regulates the provision of sewerage system and sanitary facilities in Singapore. The public sewerage network collects used water from domestic and non-domestic (e. G. Industrial, commercial, etc) sources. The Catchments and Waterways Department, PUB or PUB(C&W) plans, develops and manages our reservoirs and waterways for water supply and load control, and integrates them with the surrounding environment in a sustainable manner.

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