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SINGAPORE: Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has expressed his optimism for the upcoming Year of the Tiger and is hoping that Singapore's economy will grow between three and five percent this year.
Speaking at a community event in Ang Mo Kio on Sunday, he added that Singaporeans must also look beyond this year and upgrade themselves.
Mr Lee said: "We want a better living. Every one of us would like a better life. But the only way to do that is to be able to get the skills, get the education, get the training, get the upgrading to work hard and therefore also work better to be more productive and earn more for ourselves."
Looking back at 2009, he said that the government had worked hard to deal with the troubles then.
The most important help given to Singaporeans was the Resilience Package in the Budget, which included Jobs Credit and other schemes, said Prime Minister Lee.
"As a result of all these, we are able to keep our unemployment not too high. It went up a little bit, but now it has come down," he said.
"The recent unemployment number, (it) has gone from three per cent back to only two per cent, which is really very low, and almost as low as it was before the crisis began."
This is a reflection of the policies taken as well as the attitudes of Singaporeans who were willing to take the work available to see through the difficult time, said Mr Lee.
- CNA/ir
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