The City-state of Singapore is the most advanced economy within ASEAN, and, as such, constitutes a greatly significant strategic, commercial, financial, and logistic “hub”. It is the second most crowded harbour in the world, as well as the eighth aviation transport hub.
The most important logistics companies in the world have their general or Asia-Pacific (APAC) headquarter in Singapore. These companies choose Singapore as their regional headquarter in APAC for various reasons, such as its strategic position, its human capital pool, strong financial infrastructure, great network of participants and an efficient legal, tax and normative system. Moreover, it is a main hub for innovation, greatly interested in R&D. Nonetheless, the City-state can be considered as a main gateway to access Southeast Asia, whose market is becoming increasingly interesting for both Italy and the European Union.
Italian companies, especially those with a high technological capability, can find partners interested in developing products or re-export to the rest of the region, as well as concrete support from government agencies dedicated to supporting investments in this field.
The most promising new sectors include pharmaceuticals and technologies applied to medicine, information technologies, aerospace sector, renewable energies, maritime and precision engineering along with those of furniture and design or related to all various items that describe the so-called Italian life style.
The Economic crisis emerged from Covid-19 pandemic has hit considerably the Singaporean economy, as a result, to contain such an economic impact, the Government of Singapore allocated a stimulus package of more than 92 billion Singapore Dollars (about 60 billion euros). Part of this economic recovery can be achieved through digital transformation, considered fundamental in overcoming the damage caused by the pandemic. The Government is particularly committed to support three projects: promoting the adoption of business-to-business digital technologies such as e-invoicing and e-signatures, help the companies to benefit from the digital economy agreements to operate cross-border and support the development of digital platforms.
According to the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MIT), Singapore’s GDP growth is expected to come in at “around 7.0 per cent” in 2021 and “3.0 to 5.0 per cent” in 2022 (press release). During the third quarter of 2021, Singapore’s GDP has already increased by 7,1% (year-on-year), trained by the manufacturing, construction, trade, wholesale, and retail sectors.
