Period

Intervention

1960s &70s

・ Government policies:

o to promote growth by attracting foreign direct investment; attract global multinational corporations as vehicles to achieve industrial growth

o create jobs and expand productive capacity

o shift away from import-substitution in favour of export-led industrialisation

・ The government developed industrial land, put in place infrastructure facilities, reformed labour laws to promote industrial peace, and invested in basic education with emphasis on technical skills relevant to industrialisation.

・ Sound fiscal and monetary policies ensured macroeconomic stability and underpinned investor confidence

1980s

・ Industrial restructuring by focusing on high-tech manufacturing and high value-added services

o emergence of strong clusters in higher value-added electronics, petrochemicals, component and precision engineering (Singapore became the world’s leading producer of hard disk drives―an early form of memory storage used in computers at the time)

・ Computerisation of the civil service―helped to kick-start the info-communication services industry

1990s

・ Structural reforms to:

o enhance wage flexibility in the labour market;

o tap more decisively into regional markets for trade and outward investment;

o step up the pace of industrial upgrading;

o promote innovation, enterprise, and entrepreneurship in the economy; and

o liberalisation of various services sectors such as finance, telecommunications, and utilities.

2000s

・ Liberalisation of the insurance and securities industries

・ Opening up the domestic banking industry to foreign competition

・ Opening up the entertainment industry