$13b
The net profit for Singapore government- owned investment company Temasek Holdings for the financial year ending 31 March 2011. This is more than double the $5b profit of the previous year.
$5b
What local banker Wee Cho Yaw is worth. The richest man in Singapore, according to Forbes Asia, saw an increase of $728 million in his fortunes from 2010. The business magazine also put the number of billionaires in Singapore at 13, an increase of two from last year.
8
Singapore’s ranking in the Top 10 Fashion Capitals 2011 poll by media analytics company Global Language Monitor. It beat Tokyo and Berlin at ninth and tenth place, respectively. This is the first time the Lion City has appeared on the list, which has been published since 2008.
4
The number of eligible candidates who vied for the presidency in Singapore in 2011. Though the second time a presidential election has been held — the first was in 1993 — it was the first multi-candidate presidential race in Singapore’s history. Polling Day was 27 August 2011.
$140m
The amount of funding from the National Research Foundation for research and development in Singapore’s water sector this year. Areas that will benefit include research into advanced membrane processes and low-energy seawater desalination. This amount is in addition to the $300 million set aside five years ago.
… And on the web
Have trouble telling house and techno apart? Get insight into electronic music at www.mnshift.com, a site by local dance music label Midnight Shift. It also features interviews with innovators of the local and international club scene, as well as updates of and invites to upcoming club events.
Set up by two budding Singaporean entrepreneurs, www.carteblanche-x.com is a platform for female bloggers around the world to air their thoughts on fashion, music, film and art. Alongside this melting pot of discussions is an online store retailing accessories like eyewear, necklaces and rings.
For a light-hearted perspective on life in Singapore, check out twntysmthg.sg, a website set up by a group of local writers. Here you’ll find out how the mama shop (neighbourhood convenience store) got its name, where to get the best bargain haircuts in the heartlands, and what inspired a local indie musician to create his own musical notation system.
According to the study, if Singapore were to take in all adults who wish to settle in the Republic, the adult population of 3.6 million would jump to 13 million. Singapore topped the chart with the highest PNMI value of 260 per cent, followed by Saudi Arabia (180 per cent), New Zealand (175 per cent), Canada (170 per cent) and Australia (145 per cent). 
The healthcare sector’s attempts to grow the medical profession in Singapore to keep up with the demands of an ageing population and improve the doctor-to-patient ratio has had good results. Some 450 doctors are now added to the pool each year, compared to the previous growth rate of 200 per year. Even as plans are underway to train more doctors locally – the National University of Singapore will take in 300 students (up from the current 260) in the next two years, and a third medical school at the Nanyang Technological University is under consideration – more foreign-trained doctors are also joining the pool. It is estimated that Singapore needs to double the number of practising doctors by 2011 if it is to meet the demands of four new hospitals in the next five years.
Eight years on, Singapore’s medical-technology industry has doubled its growth figures, buoyed by the worldwide demand for healthcare technologies. According to the Economic Development Board, the medical-technology sector doubled its manufacturing output and employment since 2000, with a manufacturing output of $2.9 billion last year, up from $1.5 billion.
Despite the thinning expatriate package – a global trend that has taken on steam in the current slowdown – 91 per cent of the expatriates in Singapore have not considered returning home. This is higher than the global average of 85 per cent, revealed the HSBC’s Expat Economics survey held early this year, the results of which were announced in July. Where expatriate packages used to include housing benefits, car allowances, children’s school fees and club memberships, only 30 per cent of expatriates here receive such perks now. Instead, contract renewals are being converted into local packages with lump sum allowances. One possible reason for expatriates staying on in Singapore could be that 75 per cent of them have more disposable income here than back home even while the cost of living in Singapore exceeds the global average.
A global ‘stress test’ by Swiss business school IMD of how resilient countries were against economic stresses during a recession placed the Republic in second place, just behind Denmark.
