quarter last year. It is actually the highest growth rate recorded since the fourth quarter of 2019.


It was helped by a stronger than expected manufacturing sector although the government is still warning of an uncertain future due to the pandemic and is forecasting a growth rate of between four and six per cent for this year.


Te manufacturing sector contributes around 20 to 25 per cent of the annual GDP and is mostly driven by electronics manufacturing, machinery and chemicals. Te finance services industry is not far behind with around 200 banks on the island.


Singapore is one of the region’s most politically stable countries. Te People’s Action Party has


been dominant since 1959 and currently holds 83 of the 93 seats in Parliament.


Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is the eldest son of Singapore’s first Prime Minister Lee Kuan Yew. Loong became Prime Minister in 2004 and won the last general election in July last year with 61 per cent of the votes.


Halimah Yacob became Singapore’s first female President in 2017. Prior to that, she was the first woman to be a Speaker in the Singapore Parliament. She was also the first Malay woman to be elected to Singapore’s Parliament when she won a seat in Jurong GRC back in 2001.


She is a working mother and has long championed the interests of women and workers and is helping to deliver politics with a


‘human touch’. She is the longest serving Muslim politician in the ruling People’s Action Party.


She campaigns on various social issues from training older and unskilled workers to caring for the elderly and mentally ill. She supports flexible working arrangements and family care leave and successfully achieved equal medical benefits for women civil servants. She won the 2017 elections in what was described as a ‘walkover’ and as such became Singapore’s eighth President.


Earlier this year, she approved a S$11bn handout from past reserves to fund measures to fight the pandemic and this will go towards the ‘Covid-19 Resilience Package’ to cover public health and safe re-opening measures. Tis, coupled with an amount approved last year, totals S$53.7bn.


WIRE / PULSE / INSIGHT / REPORTS P55


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