ABSTRACT
Within Southeast Asia, the policy reforms which were discussed in Chapter 4 began to have an impact on economic growth in the years from 1965 to 1980. Singapore, which was troubled by a range of political, economic and social problems in the aftermath of the Japanese occupation, had experienced very little economic growth in per capita terms until 1965, but between 1965 and 1980 per capita GDP more than trebled. The development strategy implemented after Singapore’s break from Malaysia was far more successful than most observers had predicted in 1965 and by the latter part of the 1970s was influencing policy in neighbouring countries. Rapid growth was sustained until 1996, when real per capita GDP was almost nine times the 1950 level (Table 4.6).
