Stable Outlook

Singapore's trade-dependent economy will slow in 2005, after impressive expansion last year, as the downturn in the global economy affects demand for the city-state's key export sector. Despite enjoying strong economic fundamentals, the city-state remains vulnerable to fluctuations in global demand, and this remains a long-term problem for the economy. After being one of Southeast Asia's best performing economies' until the mid-90s, the economy has been hard hit by the Asian financial crisis (1997-8), the bursting of the Internet bubble in 2000, and most recently, the SARS epidemic in 2003.

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