Keyword: singaporeeconomy
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SINGAPORE: Pharmaceutical giants have invested S$2.4 billion in Singapore, setting up eight biologics manufacturing plants within the last five years. The biologics sector now employs 1,700 people. EDB estimates that new jobs in the sector will increase by 60 per cent, or 1,000 jobs, over the next three to four years. A biological product differs from traditional pharmaceutical drugs which are chemical based. For example, ovary cells that are cultivated from Chinese hamsters produce antibodies that can be used to treat breast cancer. Lam Kong-Peng, executive director of A*STAR’s Bioprocessing Technology Institute, said: "Biologics most closely resemble our own bodies'...
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SINGAPORE: After holding the top spot for the past two years, Singapore has fallen to third place in an annual global survey on the most desirable countries for expatriates to work and live in. The Republic lost its crown in the HSBC survey this year - ranking behind China and Germany - amid concerns among respondents over job market security, integration with locals and the rising cost of living. The survey results were released last week. In particular, more than half the respondents in Singapore - compared to a global average of 39 per cent - cited job security as...
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SINGAPORE: With a name like Batman, one would have thought the 23-year-old man would aspire to do good. But on Monday, the man -- who is actually named Batman Suparman -- was jailed two years and nine months for multiple theft and housebreaking offences. Batman admitted to six counts of theft, two counts related to house trespass, one for housebreaking and one for drug consumption between June and August this year. The prosecution proceeded on three of the 10 charges. The court heard that Batman broke into SGF Billards & Marketing Singapore at Depot Road in the wee hours of...
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(Reuters) - For someone with $55 million to spare on an egg-sized diamond, the world's most expensive necklace is on sale this month at a jewelery show in Singapore, reflecting Asia's growing appetite for precious gems and expensive baubles. Known as L'Incomparable, the necklace created by luxury jeweler Mouawad features a yellow, internally flawless diamond of more than 407 carats suspended from a rose gold setting that is studded with 90 white diamonds weighing nearly 230 carats. "Serious interest" has been expressed by a couple of potential buyers from Asia, said Jean Nasr, managing director of Mouawad in Singapore, declining...
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The Kwee brothers, Singapore’s fifth richest with a net worth of $5.2 billion, want a piece of the New York sky. Announcing their first venture overseas, the four brothers who collectively run Pontiac Land, yesterday unveiled plans for a 1050 ft towering skyscraper, to come up between the 53rd and 54th streets in New York city. Located in an area now being nicknamed the ‘billionaire’s row’, because of luxury penthouses contracted to come up at $90-$95 million or upwards of $11,000 a square foot on nearby 57th street, Pontiac Land’s skyscraper will house galleries of the Museum of Modern Art...
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Singapore is a small nation with few of its own natural resources. Yet in the past 50 years it has transformed itself into one of the world's economic powerhouses. Here, Tenna Schoer, a Danish journalist based in Singapore, counts some of the measures where the country comes top of the class. Continue reading the main story Singapore's mid-life crisis Singapore profile More from Singapore Direct 1. Low crime rate Take a ride on the subway in Singapore and you'll quickly notice that it is only the tourists firmly holding on to their bags. The locals are very relaxed about their...
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(Reuters) - Singapore's central bank warned that core inflation is likely to accelerate in 2014 as it stuck to its tight monetary policy stance of allowing a "modest and gradual" appreciation of the local dollar on Monday, sending the Singapore dollar higher. The decision, which was widely expected, came as the wealthy, trade-dependent Southeast Asian city-state reported a better-than-expected 5.1 percent growth in third quarter gross domestic product from a year ago due to the continued strength in services. The Singapore dollar, the world's 15th most actively traded currency, was quoted at 1.2450 per the U.S. dollar around 0040 GMT,...
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(Reuters) - Singapore said on Friday it would consider growing public complaints against infidelity website AshleyMadison.com when deciding whether to allow the platform to operate. Scrutiny of the site, which has 22 million members in about 30 countries, forms part of a wider debate over censorship in Singapore. The city state bans Playboy magazine, removes racy scenes from movies and blocks dozens of websites, in moves that have added to its image as Asia's "nanny state". AshleyMadison.com, founded in Canada in 2001, began a Japanese service in June and a Hong Kong service last month. Its operators have announced plans...
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SINGAPORE: Singapore Exchange Ltd , the city-state's stock and futures market operator, said on Monday it is developing an electricity futures market that it hopes to launch by end-2014. The proposed electricity futures market, which SGX said will be Asia's first, will help electricity generating companies and other market participants improve asset optimisation and better manage risks.
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(Reuters) - Singapore Exchange Ltd (SGXL.SI)'s role as the city-state's equity market regulator is coming under increasing scrutiny in the fall-out from a penny stock crash earlier this month. The sudden implosion of Blumont Group Ltd (BLUM.SI), LionGold Corp (LION.SI), and Asiasons Capital Ltd (ASNS.SI) - after huge run-ups in their share price earlier in the year had turned them briefly into billion dollar companies - left many in the market mystified and raised question marks over whether the exchange missed red flags and was too slow to act. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) has now stepped into the...
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SINGAPORE--The construction boom shows no signs of ending any time soon, but a shortage of workers means projects may cost more and take longer to complete. Experts say the strong construction demand is expected to continue with many big projects in the pipeline, including public housing and infrastructure works such as the Singapore MRT's Thomson Line. While this is good news for the industry, contractors say they are struggling to cope with the manpower shortage. This year's total construction demand is a projected SG$28 billion to SG$34 billion, compared with last year's SG$30.7 billion. Work permits in the construction industry...
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Maid recruitment agencies in Singapore have started turning to new sources of domestic workers like Myanmar and Cambodia. SINGAPORE: Maid recruitment agencies in Singapore have started turning to new sources of domestic workers like Myanmar and Cambodia. This follows the decision of the Manila-based Association of Licensed Recruitment Agencies to Singapore (ALRAS) to stop deploying Filipino domestic workers to Singapore from September 2 this year. Maid agencies in Singapore said the Philippine authorities expect employers and not the maids to fork out the placement fees. The placement fees are for the processing of documents needed before the domestic worker can...
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Singapore's biomedical sector has grown in the last decade. It now contributes nearly S$30 billion to the economy, compared to about S$6 billion in 2000. SINGAPORE: Singapore's biomedical sector has grown in the last decade. It now contributes nearly S$30 billion to the economy, compared to about S$6 billion in 2000. This was announced on Wednesday at the 10th anniversary of Biopolis. President Tony Tan Keng Yam, who was the chairman of the Life Sciences Ministerial Committee in 2003, officially opened the research hub that year. Today, it is one of the more notable centres for biomedical research, globally.
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Singapore's non-oil domestic exports fell year-on-year for an eighth straight month in September. SINGAPORE: Singapore's non-oil domestic exports fell year-on-year for an eighth straight month in September. Trade agency, IE Singapore said exports declined by 1.2 per cent in September, following the 6.8 per cent decrease in the previous month. The figure was better than economists forecast for a 2.8-per cent contraction. Exports were hurt by continued lacklustre demand for the country's electronics, which shrank 5.5 per cent from a year ago. However, on-a-month-on-month basis, exports rose by 5.7 per cent in September, in contrast to the previous month's 6.6-per...
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Singapore's economy posted 5.1 per cent on-year growth for the third quarter, said the Ministry of Trade and Industry in advanced estimates, while the Monetary Authority of Singapore has forecast continued economic expansion into 2014. SINGAPORE: Singapore's economy posted a 5.1 per cent on-year growth for the third quarter of 2013, said the Ministry of Trade and Industry in advanced estimates released on Monday. This is compared to the 4.2 per cent recorded in the preceding quarter. The market was expecting a 3.8-per cent growth. On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis, the economy contracted by 1.0 per cent, compared to...
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Singapore is not typically known as a hotbed for live music. But one young entrepreneur saw an opportunity. Clarence Chan developed a search engine to connect music-lovers with gigs they enjoy. He is now branching out, partnering with underground and international artists. As part of our series on start-up businesses from around Asia, we spoke to Mr Chan about his venture in the city-state.
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(Reuters) - A funeral parlor switches into gold mining; a steel trader turns into a property developer; and a food packaging firm ventures into resources. Reverse takeovers and shifting corporate business strategies on Singapore's stock market have come under the spotlight in the wake of a recent collapse in the share prices of three companies listed on Southeast Asia's biggest bourse. One of the companies, Blumont Group Ltd (BLUM.SI), lost as much as S$6.2 billion ($4.96 billion) in market value in the past week. Prior to that, Blumont had surged as much as 12-fold this year, making it Singapore's top...
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(Reuters) - First it was sex, then casinos. Now, a Singapore diplomat has been charged with inflating the number of pineapple tarts and bottles of wine carried on official visits in the latest corruption case to hit the squeaky clean city-state. Lim Cheng Hoe, former chief of protocol at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, allegedly overbilled authorities by around S$89,000 ($71,100) by overstating the amount of gifts bought for official purposes between 2008 and 2012. Lim faces 60 charges and could be jailed for up to three years on each charge if found guilty. Singapore, a wealthy Asian finance and...
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(Reuters) - Singapore will require many companies operating in the city-state to consider Singaporeans for skilled job vacancies before turning to candidates from abroad, bowing to public pressure over a surge in foreigners over the past decade. "The measures might mean more hassle and paperwork for companies, and it might even lower the long-term economic growth rate," said Michael Wan, an economist with Credit Suisse in Singapore. "But I don't think this will necessarily lower Singapore's attractiveness to companies because there are other factors that they take into account -- such as tax incentives, political stability and access to the...
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WASHINGTON — Two Singapore men were sentenced Friday in federal court in Washington for their roles in plots to illegally export 55 military antennas from the United States to Singapore and Hong Kong. Lim Kow Seng, also known as Eric Lim, and Hia Soo Gan Benson also known as Benson Hia, were sentenced to 37 months and 34 months in prison, respectively. They pleaded guilty in June to conspiracy to defraud the United States by dishonest means. Seng, 44, and Hia, 46, were arrested in Singapore in 2011 and extradited to the U.S. According to court documents, the two and...
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