This chart shows how the Singapore gross domestic product has grown over the years --- from 7,246.57,246.5 million Singapore dollars (SGD) in 1961 to 233,524.5 million Singapore dollars (about $166,221.4 million) in 2008. It is based on records kept by the Singapore Department of Statistics, which calculates the GDP at 2000 market prices. See the original data here.
The Singapore economy has shrunk only five times in all these years:
- By 3.8% in 1964, when it fell from SGD8,521.7 million to SGD8,194.2 million (when Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew was the prime minister)
- By 1.4% in 1985, when it fell from SGD52,004.5 million in 1984 to SGD51,254 million (also under Lee Kuan Yew)
- By 1.4% in 1998, when it fell from SGD137,364.0 million in 1997 to SGD135,472.6 million (when Senior Minister Goh Chok was the prime minister)
- By 2.4% in 2001, when it fell from SGD159,840.4 million in 2000 to SGD156,045.2 million (also under Goh Chok Tong)
- By 2.1% in 2009 (under Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong). The official GDP figures will be announced on January 4.
The GDP crossed
- The SGD50,000 million mark in 1984, when it rose to SGD52,004.5 million
- The SGD100,000 million mark in 1994, when it rose to SGD108,756.3 million
- The SGD200,000 million mark in 2006, when it rose to SGD214,233.5 million.


