(MENAFN- Gulf Times) Qatar, Luxembourg and Singapore are the three richest countries in the world as per GDP per capita, but the sustainability of at least Singapore's ranking can now be questioned given the small city-state's economic slowdown over the past quarters. A combination of weaker exports, a drop in manufacturing output and demand for services, fewer tourist arrivals, the dropping oil price which brought down inflation close to zero, a flat stock market and a weakening Singapore dollar are the problems the country is currently facing.
This situation took a toll on the wealth of Singapore's 50 richest, Forbes magazine reports in its upcoming August edition. According to their research, the total fortunes of Singapore's top 50 tycoons fell almost 5% to $92.3bn from a year ago.
While the city-state's richest, property tycoons and brothers Robert and Philip Ng, remain at the top of the list, they had to acknowledge that their net value plunged by around a quarter to $8.7bn from $12.8bn last year, and revenue of their flagship companies Far East Organisation and Sino Group also plunged by a fourth to $4.1bn since 2012 amid slowing property markets in Singapore and Hong Kong, where they are also active. Number 2 on the list remains property tycoon Kwek Leng Beng, who managed to retain his second spot on the list with a net worth of $7.2bn, down from $7.8bn in 2014.
Other businessmen whose fortunes are tied to real estate, such as the Kwee brothers, also saw a drop in their wealth, additionally owing to Singapore's depreciating currency.
One of the few gainers was Goh Cheng Liang, who moved up to rank 3 from 7 on the list after he upped his stake in in Japan's Nippon Paint to 39% and the value of the shares subsequently jumped 62% in the past year.
The fortunes of fourth-ranking Khoo family, which made their wealth in banking, where down to $6.4bn from $7bn, and the fifth on the list, Wee Cho Yaw, son of the founder of Singapore's third biggest bank by assets United Overseas Bank (UOB), saw his fortune dwindling to $5.5bn from $6.2bn as shares of the bank fell and slower growth in China posed headwinds for UOB, in which he and his family hold 11%. One of the few lucky Singapore billionaires remains Eduardo Saverin, co-founder of Facebook. The Brazil-born tech entrepreneur € after gaining $1.6bn in net value from 2013 to 2014 € added more than $1bn to his fortune in 2014 as his sizeable stake in Facebook shares continued to rise, and he retains rank 6 on the list with a current fortune of 5.9bn.
Saverin became a Singapore resident after renouncing his US citizenship in 2012 and today inverts in tech start-ups.
Singapore's economic growth was at a slow 2.8% in 2012, and the International Monetary Fund (IMF) expects just a slightly better growth in 2015 at around 3%. On the eve of the city state's 50th birthday € which will be celebrated on National Day, August 9, € the nation is confronted with the need for economic restructuring, growing stress with spending on health, education and infrastructure, as well as an aging population whose fertility rate is among the lowest in the world.
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