Singapore

Singapore has topped the 2025 Global Talent Competitiveness Index for the first time, driven by strong education systems, effective governance, and a proactive approach to maintaining a workforce that is adaptable and ready to innovate in the age of artificial intelligence. The index, now in its eleventh edition, is published by INSEAD Business School in partnership with the Portolance Institute in Washington, D.C., and measures countries’ ability to develop, attract, and retain talent across income levels. This year, it covers 135 economies worldwide, analyzing 77 indicators, including soft skills and talent concentration in the field of artificial intelligence, across six key pillars. The report, titled “Resilience in an Age of Disruption,” comes at a time when the world is ex...

Fengjie navel oranges are headed for supermarket shelves overseas, marking a new chapter in agricultural trade between China and Singapore. The 2025 Global Sourcing Event for Fengjie Navel Oranges took place in Singapore on October 15, where producers from Fengjie County in Chongqing signed multiple export agreements with buyers from Singapore and Malaysia. The total export volume surpassed 10,000 tons, signaling international demand for China’s growing fruit sector and pointing to the expanding agricultural partnership between the two countries.  At the signing ceremony, witnessed by County Mayor and Deputy Secretary of the Fengjie County Committee Wu Tao, and representatives from participating compani...

Singapore has emerged as Asia's leading tech hub, with its digital economy contributing S$128.1 billion to GDP in 2024 and creating over 214,000 jobs. Driven by AI and investments, it faces challenges like talent shortages and equity concerns. The city-state is poised for sustained leadership through inclusive strategies. Singapore has solidified its position as a dominant force in Asia’s technology sector, emerging as the region’s premier hub for tech employment and innovation. Recent data highlights a remarkable surge in the digital economy, which contributed S$128.1 billion to the nation’s GDP in 2024, representing 18.6% of the total. This growth has propelled the creation of over 214,000 tech jobs, underscoring the city-state’s transformation into a global benchmark for tech-dr...

Chinese travelers are now "a system-level driver of Singapore's visitor economy," Subramania Bhatt, a veteran tourism analyst based in the city-state, told Xinhua in a recent interview, noting that their travel patterns are increasingly extending beyond iconic landmarks, spilling over into smaller, niche itineraries and experiences. According to the Singapore Tourism Board, since the introduction of visa-free travel between Singapore and China in February 2024, China has become Singapore's largest tourist source market. In the first eight months of 2025, Singapore recorded nearly 2.3 million visitor arrivals from China. A China Outbound Travel Sentiment Survey in the third quarter of 2025 showed that Singapore was the most popular future travel destination among over 15,000 pote...

Singapore is expected to leave settings unchanged at its monetary policy meeting next week, as the city-state’s growth outlook remains resilient despite a slowdown in trade due to U.S. tariffs. Of 14 analysts polled by Reuters, 10 expect the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) to hold off making changes in its scheduled review on October 14. Maybank economist Chua Hak Bin said a construction boom, generous fiscal support and falling interest rates have cushioned the blow from a trade slowdown. "Some economic segments appear to be strengthening during the third quarter, judging by the readings for retail sales, hospitality, property transactions, bank lending, trading volumes and IPO deals, which will help cushion the contraction in exports," he said. Similarly, ANZ head ...

Singapore’s digital economy expanded by $12 billion in 2024, contributing $128.1 billion, 18.6% of thenation’s GDP, and creating 214,000 tech jobs, the Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) saidin its third Singapore Digital Economy Report. The report attributes most of this growth to digitalisation in non-tech sectors, rather than within traditional tech firms. Finance and insurance remained the largest contributors, followed by wholesale trade andmanufacturing. The number of tech professionals in Singapore rose from 208,300 in 2023 to 214,000 in2024, despite a cautious global hiring outlook and ongoing layoffs in the sector. Roles linked to AI, data, and cybersecurity saw the fastest growth. Non-tech industries drove thisexpansion, with a 3.9 per cent increase in tech em...

The initiatives in Singapore and Malaysia to protect gig workers could act as a model for emerging economies to regulate platform labor. Gig work, symbolized by crowd work, on-demand work, and freelancing, has expanded rapidly worldwide. The convenience of being able to accept work with just a smartphone has provided many with flexible working arrangements. Behind this sense of convenience for consumers, however, lurk issues such as unstable working conditions and exclusion from social security for the gig workers. Gig workers are usually denied rights as regular employees. Consequently, they have been pushed outside the scope of basic protection offered by labor laws including minimum wages, medical insurance, sick leave, and compensation for injury at the job. A landmark de...

Algernon Yau says Singapore ‘a friend rather than a rival’ ahead of trip to mark 30th anniversary of economic and trade office in city state Hong Kong’s commerce and economic development chief will visit Singapore next week in his latest global charm offensive to bolster bilateral trade ties as he described the city state as “a friend” rather than “a rival”. Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Algernon Yau Ying-wah told the Post in an exclusive interview that he would spend two days in Singapore, meeting officials as he sought to reframe a persistent narrative of intense competition between the two Asian financial hubs as a relationship of mutual benefit. “We see Singapore as a friend rather than a rival, because I think everybody is trying to paint a picture [tha...