Adversity into opportunity
Adversity into opportunity
Many saw a bleak future for Singapore, a nation of immigrants with neither natural resources nor a hinterland to count on.
Unemployment was high at 10%. The British withdrawal from its bases in 1971 would mean the loss of another 40,000 jobs.
Mr Lee and his economic team – Dr Goh Keng Swee, Mr Lim Kim San and Mr Hon Sui Sen – embarked on an export-oriented industrialisation strategy to create jobs. Unusual among newly-independent countries of that time, Singapore welcomed Multi-National Corporations (MNCs).
The various policies implemented in the immediate post-independence years resulted in massive economic and social progress for the people. By the end of the 1970s, unemployment had fallen to 3% and growth was averaging 10% per annum.