ABSTRACT
The Singapore economy’s rapid evolution from a third world to a first world country in a matter of four decades has rightly captured regional and global attention. As shown in Figure 8.1, Singapore’s gross national product (GNP) per capita has risen almost hundred-fold from about US$430 in 1960 to just over US$42,000 in 2010. 1 This increase in turn has been due in no small part to the massive influx of foreign direct investment (FDI) into the city state. A somewhat less known fact is that since the 1980s, Singapore companies (both public and private) have been investing overseas quite aggressively. In many cases, this policy has been actively promoted and facilitated by the Singapore government. In other words, outward foreign direct investment (OFDI) has been an important aspect of the country’s national development strategy, which is based on maintaining and enhancing international competitiveness. While the OFDI thrust was given impetus by the 1997–8 Asian economic crisis (so-called ‘Regionalization 2000’), an United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) report (2005: 4) has observed that the OFDI from Singapore is not a new phenomenon.
