Posted on 26 Oct 2011
An annual growth of 3 percent for the next 10 years should be considered a "good decade" due to changing global economic environment, Singapore's Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said as reported by Business Times.
Lee also said that the city state should expect tougher competition going forward, especially in the battle for the labour market.
"We must get used to 34 percent growth being a good year. If we can make 3plus percent per year over the next 10 years, we will have a good decade," Lee quoted as saying. He said growth was likely to slow down given constraints of population and space, as well as the government's effort to gradually reduce the inflow of foreign workers and immigrants.
His remarks in parliament followed a central bank decision last week to ease monetary policy by containing the future pace of gains in its currency, intending to adjust to a slowing economy and still stubborn price pressures.
Singapore's economy is expected to expand more slowly next year, and growth could be below its potential rate of 35 percent, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in its twiceyearly policy review.
