The Economic Development Board and the Strategy of Survival: summary
The Economic Development Board, established on 1 August 1961 on the recommendation of a United Nations mission led by Albert Winsemius, was the instrument through which the government of self-governing Singapore set out to absorb mass unemployment by industrialisation. After separation from Malaysia in 1965, the strategy turned from a protected regional market to export manufacturing by multinational companies, attracted by pioneer tax holidays under the Economic Expansion Incentives (Relief from Income Tax) Act 1967 and by the speed of the EDB, as the arrival of Texas Instruments in 1968 showed. The British decision to withdraw its forces by 1971, which threatened roughly a fifth of the economy and more than 30,000 jobs, was answered by converting bases into shipyards and industrial land and by a disciplined drive for new investment. The Employment Act and the industrial relations amendments of 1968, the National Wages Council of 1972, the Land Acquisition Act 1966 and public housing gave the state control over labour and land, at a price paid by workers and landowners that later reforms partly reduced. The resulting model, in which statutory boards and government-linked companies design and maintain open markets, shaped the offshore market, the incentive schemes and the regulatory style of the financial centre that the following chapters describe.
For general information only. This article does not constitute legal or tax advice, does not replace advice on an individual case and creates no lawyer-client relationship. It reflects the legal position as of October 2026.