Source of article: The Business Times
In summary:
Market commentators have frequently cited the lack of liquidity and depressed valuations as the twin factors stymying the Singapore capital market. These two factors have also propelled a number of issuers to privatise and de-list from the Singapore stock market in the last few years. Delistings are part and parcel of a dynamic stock market provided there are a healthy number of new entrants to the local stock market.
Market watchers are sanguine about the growth and vibrancy of the stock markets in Indonesia, Philippines, Thailand and Malaysia for the coming new year. Each of these markets in South-East Asia have burgeoning strong domestic enterprises that would need to raise funds from the local stock market via the IPO route. See the attached front page story of the Singapore Business Times (27 December 2023) and my quote, written by Megan Cheah.
Singapore has a sterling reputation for its clean political and legal systems, and rigorous law enforcement culture. These attributes are however not sufficient to engender a dynamic stock market.
We need a two-prong approach to germinate a more enlivened stock market. As a nation country that does not have a critical mass of domestic enterprises to canalise the local stock market, we need to do more to attract foreign enterprises to tap the local stock market. Contemporaneously, and taking a longer term approach, we need to inspirit a continual growth of local entrepreneurship. We need to infuse the spirit of enterprise to enlarge our local pool of small and medium enterprises (“SMEs”) that would eventually tap the local stock market to finance their various stages of growth.
The government should channel more funds to promote local entrepreneurship, technopreneurship and even farmapreneurship (entrepreneurship in the farming industry)! Unlike MNCs, local SMEs will remain rooted to Singapore even under trying global conditions.
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