Well, one may argue that having a stable social and economic
infrastructure may boost investor confidence. But is that really
the case?
Singapore is known to be a cheap place to do business but how
cheap can it get? At the expense of labour salaries. This is IMHO,
is a screwed logic. because a country which pays low wages is not
good for the investors as well. Coz none will come to such a
country and it will pretty hard to find real talents to run the
business. The real talents would have already left the country in
the form of emigration. Of couse one may argue that expats may be
posted from their home countries to run the local subsidaries in
s'pore. But do these expats really want to stay away from their
home countries? Solution is import foreigners but Will these
foreigners stay? Too many questions to answer.
Because MNCs all over the world favour big markets like
Australia, US, UK
And these countries, the labour wages are 2x -4x more than in
s'pore. But they are there. But what is s'pore really afraid of?
Lack of investors?
If S'pore is such a attractive place as they make it to be due
to the reasons pointed out earlier, what are they afraid? lack of
investors?
Let me tell u what they are really afraid of - It is due to the
fragile economy that is prone to instability and recession. There
are no natural resources in s'pore to make up for loss of economic
activity.At most large MNC's treat s'pore as a "subsidary" which is
meant to be pulled out anytime when the going gets tough. it is
also one of the many reasons on why MAS fiercely regulates our
currency.
So let me ask the earlier Question, is there really investor
confidence in a country which is prone to economic
instability?
What can be the solution? There may be no solution, i am afraid
because of the state of our country, in order to win, we have to
lose a lot.
But there is one solution that can be still viable. A total
revamp of the system, nurture local companies which can have the
ability to do international trade.Assist in startups and put s'pore
in the world scale.Introduce a western styled taxation system
adjusted for inflation. High salaries, variable taxation.