My opinion too. With more than half our economy in
manufacturing, a decrease in demand of our produces spells
disaster. A downturn in merely 1 sector of an industry becomes a
general downturn for Singapore.
as for the govt putting most of its egg in one basket... i think it
is probably out of consideration of the circumstances we are in and
the events around us
Quoting Jake Lloyd-Smith of SCMP again, "last year Singapore
still had 26.5 per cent of its gross domestic product tied up in
manufacturing, more than it had 15 years earlier, while Hong Kong
has let natural forces slim down its reliance on manufacturing and
build a service economy of many baskets, each holding only a few of
many eggs."
The recent merger of banks shows an attempt to build a service
economy alike to Hong Kong. Good move, albiet a little late. Today,
Singapore is 20 years behind Hong Kong in Finance..
True that the current situation is partially the
responsibility of the govt.... but isnt also true that prior to the
downturn... everyone is showering praises on the govt on going high
tech and IT savy???
I remember how dotcoms were once embraced back in 2000. We
failed to ride on the dotcom miracle when it was at its peak, but
we shared the wrath of the bubble busting.
Everyone was showering praises, but everyone was wrong.