\n<\/p>\n
Singapore tops the list in the 2025 Global Talent Competitiveness Index by INSEAD and Portulans Institute.<\/p>\n
Calvin Chan Wai Meng | E+ | Getty Images<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
Singapore’s economy expanded 5.7% year on year for the fourth quarter<\/a>, driven mainly by strong manufacturing growth in the three months through December. <\/p>\n The advance estimate was also up from the 4.2% growth in the previous quarter<\/a>, lifting full-year GDP growth to 4.8%, as announced by Prime Minister Lawrence Wong in his New Year’s message.<\/a> <\/p>\n The 4.8% growth had surpassed the country’s Ministry of Trade and Industry’s upgraded forecast of “around 4%” in November. <\/p>\n “This is a better outcome than we expected, given the circumstances,” Wong said, while warning that sustaining the current pace of growth would be challenging.<\/p>\n Singapore had earlier cautioned that 2025 would be challenging, citing trade risks after U.S. President Donald Trump’s administration slapped trade tariffs on dozens of countries in his “Liberation Day” on April.<\/p>\n