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Singapore Briefing

Discover our latest insights into Singapore including business news, regulatory updates and extensive data on Singapore free trade, double tax agreements and foreign direct investment laws.

Officially the Republic of Singapore, Singapore is a southeast Asian city-state off the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula, located about 137 kilometers north of the equator. Singapore is an country that consists of 63 islands, and is separated from Malaysia by the Straits of Johor to its north and from Indonesia's Riau Islands by the Singapore Strait to its south.

Singapore has a highly developed market-based economy, and forms the Four Asian Tigers with Hong Kong, South Korea and Taiwan. The Singaporean economy is known as one of the freest, most innovative an most business-friendly economies in the world. It was ranked the second freest economy in the 2011 Index of Economic Freedom behind Hong Kong.

Singapore is the 14th largest exporter and the 15th largest importer in the world, and has the highest trade-to-GDP ratio in the world at 407.9 percent. The country is currently the only Asian country to have AAA credit ratings from all three major credit rating agencies - Standard & Poor's, Moody's, and Fitch.

Singapore attracts a lot of foreign direct investment because of its location, corruption-free environment, skilled workforce, low tax rates and advanced infrastructure. It has also signed over ten free trade agreements (FTAs) with other countries and regions. The Singaporean economy depends heavily on exports and refining imported goods, especially in manufacturing.

Singapore's imports include machinery and equipment, mineral fuels, chemicals, foodstuffs and consumer goods. It's exports include machinery and equipment (including electronics and telecommunications), pharmaceuticals and other chemicals and refined petroleum products.

Major export partners of Singapore are Malaysia (12.2 percent), Hong Kong (11 percent), Indonesia (10.4 percent), China (10.4 percent), the US (5.5 percent), and Japan (4.5 percent). Major import partners include the United States (10.8 percent), Malaysia (10.7 percent), China (10.4 percent), Japan (7.2 percent), South Korea (5.9 percent), Indonesia (5.3 percent) and Saudi Arabia (4.8 percent).

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