Beverage Alcohol Spending in Singapore: A Potential Development Constraint?

Abstract

World Health Organization sponsored studies identify Singapore as a low-level-drinking country where beverage alcohol consumption is not growing at a rapid pace. However, data for Singapore do show that from 1978 through 1986, consumer spending on beverage alcohol was on the rise, although not alarmingly. Growing spending on beverage alcohol could signal a challenge to Singapore's continuing economic development when viewed in the context of the country's emerging labor shortage and its development strategy. Beverage alcohol could become a problem due to the upward trend in spending on drinking, the emergence of a labor shortage, and the need for the largest possible pool of highly skilled workers to sustain Singapore's growth and development. Government might, therefore, look into spending on alcohol as diligently as it focuses on the consumption of tobacco and narcotics.