Economy of Singapore

Singapore has a highly developed trade-oriented market economy. Singapore's economy has been ranked as the most open in the world, 7th least corrupt, most pro-business, with low tax rates (14.2% of Gross Domestic Product, GDP) and has the third highest per-capita GDP in the world; in terms of Purchasing Power Parity (PPP).

Government-linked companies play a substantial role in Singapore's economy, which are owned through the sovereign wealth fund Temasek Holdings, which holds majority stakes in several of the nation's largest companies, such as Singapore Airlines, SingTel, ST Engineering and MediaCorp.

The economy of Singapore is a major Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) outflow financier in the world. Singapore has also benefited from the inward flow of FDI from global investors and institutions due to her highly attractive investment climate and a stable political environment.

Exports, particularly in electronics, chemicals and services including Singapore's position as the regional hub for wealth management provide the main source of revenue for the economy, which allows it to purchase natural resources and raw goods which it lacks. Moreover, water is scarce in Singapore therefore water is defined as a precious resource in Singapore along with the scarcity of land to be treated with land fill of Pulau Semakau. Singapore has limited arable land, meaning that Singapore has to rely on the agrotechnology park for agricultural production and consumption. Human resources is another vital issue for the health of the Singaporean economy. The economy of Singapore ranks 2nd overall in the Scientific American Biotechnology ranking in 2014, with the featuring of Biopolis.

Singapore

Singapore (ⁱ/ˈsɪŋɡəpɔːr/), officially the Republic of Singapore, and often referred to as the Lion City, the Garden City, and the Red Dot, is a global city in Southeast Asia and the world's only island city-state. It lies one degree (137 km) north of the equator, at the southernmost tip of continental Asia and peninsular Malaysia, with Indonesia's Riau Islands to the south. Singapore's territory consists of the diamond-shaped main island and 62 islets. Since independence, extensive land reclamation has increased its total size by 23% (130 km²), and its greening policy has covered the densely populated island with tropical flora, parks and gardens.

The islands were settled from the second century AD by a series of local empires. In 1819, Sir Stamford Raffles founded modern Singapore as a trading post of the East India Company; after the company collapsed, the islands were ceded to Britain and became part of its Straits Settlements in 1826. During World War II, Singapore was occupied by Japan. It gained independence from Britain in 1963, by uniting with other former British territories to form Malaysia, but was expelled two years later over ideological differences. After early years of turbulence, and despite lacking natural resources and a hinterland, the nation developed rapidly as an Asian tiger economy, based on external trade and its human capital.

Fashion One

Fashion One is a global television network founded by Michael Gleissner and owned by the New York-based entertainment company, Bigfoot Entertainment. Launched on April 8, 2010, the TV network broadcasts programming related to fashion, entertainment and lifestyle internationally across multiple platforms, including direct-to-home satellite television, cable television, internet television and IPTV.

Fashion One operates internationally with offices in the United States, Europe and Asia. It has also been the partner of various global fashion-related events, including Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week, House of iKons, and Perth Fashion Festival. As of October 2014, the channel has 14 feeds and has reached over 100 million viewers worldwide.

History

Michael Gleissner, a German entrepreneur founded the channel and its parent company, Bigfoot Entertainment, in 2004. The Fashion One Channel began broadcasting on April 8, 2010 under Fashion One Television LLC. It was initially available in the Philippines and Thailand to millions of households across free-to-air (FTA) and direct-to-home (DTH) satellites. It was then distributed globally via three satellites, namely the Galaxy 19 at 97°W, Hot Bird at 13°E and AsiaSat 3S at 105.5°E. The channel raised US$14 million in September to boost its in-house production slate as well as expanding its reach by adding more satellite capacity and upgrading existing broadcasts to full HD. Fashion One TV network later expanded its operation in Malaysia, Hong Kong, Japan, Taiwan, Africa, Western Europe and the United States It updated its production format from HD to Ultra HD in 2014 and launched Fashion 4K under the Fashion One television network on September 1, 2015.