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Singapore — Market Overview

Asia>Singapore

🇸🇬 Singapore

Singapore is best read as a hub economy: its market reflects regional financial conditions, cross-border trade, shipping, property, and the earnings power of banks with wider Asian exposure. The market is usually interpreted through regional liquidity, trade and transport activity, and whether bank, property, and infrastructure-linked earnings continue to track a stable hub premium.

Regional map

Key facts

Singapore at a glance

Capital

Singapore

Currency

Singapore Dollar (S$)

Primary exchange

SGX

Central bank

Monetary Authority of Singapore

Region

Asia

Time zone

Asia/Singapore

Source: SingStat,

Country dashboard

Why this market matters

This version combines a stylized country map with a switchable macro explorer built from official published history, using OECD primary datasets where available and World Bank annual series where coverage is otherwise incomplete.

Macro explorer

Switch variables, keep the country context

GDP, inflation, labor, policy, and industrial activity are shown on a quarterly path from 2000 onward, while debt and the local equity benchmark come in when usable history exists. This keeps the page focused on fiscal room and macro regime while the broader official country pipeline keeps expanding.

Real GDP growth

Annual real GDP growth from World Bank national accounts.

-5.0%0.0%5.0%10.0%15.0%201020112012201320142015201620172018201920202021202220232024
Click a year to zoom from that point.

Available variables

Real GDP growth

4.4%
1Y trend+140.9%
Avg growth-12.0%

What This Signals

GDP growth is published quarterly and annualized, so each point captures how fast real output was expanding or contracting versus the prior quarter at an annual rate. It matters because it is the broadest scorecard of domestic economic momentum and sets the backdrop for revenues, employment, and policy expectations. Versus a year ago, the series is higher by 140.9%, which points to an improving or firmer backdrop on this measure. Across the displayed window, the broader trend is still downward.

Trade and external position

Exports, services, and external balance

Instead of a generic macro-card wall, this section focuses on how the country earns demand from abroad, where its trade edge sits, and how the external balance is evolving.

Total trade SingaporeS$1.7T
Goods
Services
Goods
Services
ExportS$901.2B
S$809.8BImport
External Balance2024
Exports +S$901.2B
Imports -S$809.8B
Balance+S$91.4B
S$901.2B
Total exports

The full export figure, combining goods and services in one line. It is the cleanest way to read how much external demand Singapore is capturing across both physical products and higher-value intangible flows.

S$505.7B
Goods exports

This is the merchandise side of exports: industrial supplies, capital goods, autos, food, and other physical products. It matters because it reflects the health of manufacturing, energy, aerospace, and the broader global industrial cycle.

S$395.6B
Services exports

This is the intangible side: finance, travel, licensing, business services, and IP-linked flows. It matters because it shows where Singapore is strongest in higher-margin, knowledge-intensive, and branded service activities.

Trade composition

What the country exports

Trade partners

Where the country trades

Commodity lens

Raw-material exposure

Goods share of exports56.1%

Goods made up 56.1% of total exports in 2024, leaving services at 43.9%.

Goods share of imports56.6%

Goods made up 56.6% of total imports in 2024, leaving services at 43.4%.

Largest export goods bucketManufactures 74.4%

This was the biggest WTO merchandise export group for Singapore in 2024.

Largest import goods bucketManufactures 70.7%

This was the biggest WTO merchandise import group for Singapore in 2024.

Merchandise balance$47.0B

Goods exports minus goods imports in 2024. A surplus here shows whether merchandise trade supports or drags on the overall external balance.

What to watch

Reading framework

01

regional liquidity

Singapore should first be read through regional liquidity. When this regime shifts, local multiples and sector leadership usually shift with it.

02

trade and logistics activity

The market is usually interpreted through regional liquidity, trade and transport activity, and whether bank, property, and infrastructure-linked earnings continue to track a stable hub premium. That makes trade and logistics activity one of the most important signals for revising the country narrative.

03

bank and property earnings

The final layer is bank and property earnings, because it determines whether the macro backdrop turns into sustainable earnings support for the Straits Times Index.

Other countries

Continue across Asia

Each card opens the same country template with its own map, switchable macro variables, and benchmark view. This is the first linked network of country pages across the region.