Singapore one of the fastest recovering cities from the Great Recession

The 2010 Global Metro Monitor Report commissioned by the Brookings Instituition’s Metropolitan Policy Program provides an overview of the recent economic performance of 150 global metropolitan cities post the Great Recession. The report has come out with interesting results showing that emerging market economies in Asia and Latin America are the ones performing strongly, outstripping the traditional Western powerhouses. The study ranks each metropolis according to growth in income and employment.

One of the most startling revelations was the Istanbul ranked #1 as the world’s fastest recovering metropolis largely due to its employment growth, which also happens to be the highest among all the 150 cities included in the survey. Shenzen came in second while Lima came in third owing to its stable banking industry. Singapore is the fourth fastest recovering city post-recession owing to its “liberal and innovative economic policies that encourage international business”. Note that none of the European cities featured in the top 30. An important highlight of Singapore’s performance based on the report is that it did not experience a loss in employment during the recession, and had nearly fully recovered its income losses by 2010.

The report results reinforce the Asian growth story and strengthens Singapore’s position as a leading business destination. The news certainly bodes well for aspiring entrepreneurs who are keen on setting up a Singapore company and making inroads into the region. Singapore economic  growth and performance has been accelerating at a record rate and the economy’s GDP rose 17.9% during H1 2010 from a year earlier. The economy expects to achieve an astounding growth rate of 15% by the end of this year. Singapore exited the recession in exactly one year’s time and the economy has grown sharply ever since. Despite increasing competition from emerging markets, Singapore still remains one step ahead of its competitors by embarking on timely and progressive economic policies. For instance, by opening its doors to the two casino-resorts earlier this year Singapore boosted its tourism sector. Visitor arrivals crossed the 1 million mark in July this year. This has generated economic benefits for other allied businesses especially in the services sector. There were 85,000 jobs that were created during the first three quarters of 2010 with majority of them being from the services sector. The unemployment rate in September 2010 stood at only 1.8%. In fact, employment among residents is at its highest level since 1991.

Commenting on Singapore’s rapid economic recovery, Mr. Andrew Chen of GuideMeSingapore.com said,

“Singapore has demonstrated mettle in overcoming the crisis. This was possible because of timely government intervention and far-sighted economic policies. The government’s significant investment in stimulus measures has finally paid-off and today the economy is moving ahead with steam.”

The city’s rapid economic recovery is also evident in Singapore incorporation activity, which is steadily rising month after month. Singapore’s economic stability is what gives it an edge over other countries, especially the Western economies of US and UK. It is therefore not surprising  that Singapore is one of the world’s fastest recovering economies post-recession.

Here is a short clip on Singapore’s economic growth in recent months.