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Bold Vision: The Untold Story of Singapore’s Reserves and its Sovereign Wealth Fund
"A whole generation of Singaporeans take their present standard of living for granted because you had laid the foundations of the economy of modern Singapore." —Founding prime minister Lee Kuan Yew in a letter of appreciation to Dr Goh Keng Swee on his retirement from politics in 1984.
A pillar of those foundations is GIC, the investment company set up forty years ago by Dr Goh to invest the country's financial reserves for the long term. Why did Dr Goh found GIC? What experiences moved him to that conclusion? How has GIC developed?
Read the gripping, untold story that began with the currency separation from Malaysia to GIC's humble beginning to the global sovereign wealth fund it is today. A tale of ingenuity, resilience and vision.
A pillar of those foundations is GIC, the investment company set up forty years ago by Dr Goh to invest the country's financial reserves for the long term. Why did Dr Goh found GIC? What experiences moved him to that conclusion? How has GIC developed?
Read the gripping, untold story that began with the currency separation from Malaysia to GIC's humble beginning to the global sovereign wealth fund it is today. A tale of ingenuity, resilience and vision.
176 pages, Paperback
Published January 1, 2021
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Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews
October 16, 2021
A really engaging read until the end, at which point the book becomes slightly weaker. This feels like 2 books squashed into 1. The second should have been much longer.
The first is a history of Singapore’s monetary institutions and how they managed our reserves: a story about our currency, the BCCS, the MAS, etc., which lead up to GIC. This was informative, engaging and exciting. It could easily have been adapted into a TV show much like The Crown but with more a Billions-esque finance focus. The roles that the founding fathers played and the actions they undertook to secure Singapore’s economic future was truly fascinating to read about.
The second began quite late in the epilogue chapter (around 80% in) and focused purely on GIC’s role in Singapore’s economy since its foundation, with more attention paid to 3 key episodes:
1. The first 10 years of GIC
2. The Global Financial Crisis and subsequent 21st century GIC reforms/ improvements
3. COVID-19 and how the aforementioned reforms helped GIC weather the crisis
This second part was far weaker in my opinion because it turned into a more factual exposition of GIC’s structures without the same level of detail or story as its exposition of the BCCS or MAS that came before. For perspective, the ~15 years of GIC prehistory from independence to the founding of GIC (1965-81) occupied 120 pages while 40 years of GIC history took up only 34 pages. I would have appreciated a lot more on GIC’s entire 40 year history: stories not only of successes but failures, which the book does not mention at all.
If the claim is that the book is more a history of Singapore reserves than a history of GIC, it doesn’t work either because Temasek and its interplay with GIC and MAS today is barely mentioned.
Also, just a couple of comments about the printing.
1. It low-key looks like a coffee table book so I’ll use it for that I suppose.
2. The Epigram print has this weird thing where each even-numbered page has a Straits-Times caption style thing where they highlight a phrase from the page in very large and bold font. This added nothing to my reading because the phrase is exactly the same as what is written in the body of the text and was sometimes quite distracting because of its placement. I might guess that it’s to make each page pop out more when you flip through it with a key idea highlighted - cementing the interpretation that this is a coffee table book.
All in all, still a very enjoyable read.
The first is a history of Singapore’s monetary institutions and how they managed our reserves: a story about our currency, the BCCS, the MAS, etc., which lead up to GIC. This was informative, engaging and exciting. It could easily have been adapted into a TV show much like The Crown but with more a Billions-esque finance focus. The roles that the founding fathers played and the actions they undertook to secure Singapore’s economic future was truly fascinating to read about.
The second began quite late in the epilogue chapter (around 80% in) and focused purely on GIC’s role in Singapore’s economy since its foundation, with more attention paid to 3 key episodes:
1. The first 10 years of GIC
2. The Global Financial Crisis and subsequent 21st century GIC reforms/ improvements
3. COVID-19 and how the aforementioned reforms helped GIC weather the crisis
This second part was far weaker in my opinion because it turned into a more factual exposition of GIC’s structures without the same level of detail or story as its exposition of the BCCS or MAS that came before. For perspective, the ~15 years of GIC prehistory from independence to the founding of GIC (1965-81) occupied 120 pages while 40 years of GIC history took up only 34 pages. I would have appreciated a lot more on GIC’s entire 40 year history: stories not only of successes but failures, which the book does not mention at all.
If the claim is that the book is more a history of Singapore reserves than a history of GIC, it doesn’t work either because Temasek and its interplay with GIC and MAS today is barely mentioned.
Also, just a couple of comments about the printing.
1. It low-key looks like a coffee table book so I’ll use it for that I suppose.
2. The Epigram print has this weird thing where each even-numbered page has a Straits-Times caption style thing where they highlight a phrase from the page in very large and bold font. This added nothing to my reading because the phrase is exactly the same as what is written in the body of the text and was sometimes quite distracting because of its placement. I might guess that it’s to make each page pop out more when you flip through it with a key idea highlighted - cementing the interpretation that this is a coffee table book.
All in all, still a very enjoyable read.
November 21, 2021
Not too bad. I definitely found certain parts of this book tremendously interesting - particular the 2nd and 3rd chapter about Singapore's struggles with its currency in the aftermath of its separation.
However, the main flaw of this book is that perhaps it is too technical and full of jargon. This book lost me in the 2nd half and I struggled to finish reading it. For a book that is sold in popular bookstores, I am not sure if this book is really meant for a general audience or if it's a book meant for those from a certain financial-trained education background.
However, the main flaw of this book is that perhaps it is too technical and full of jargon. This book lost me in the 2nd half and I struggled to finish reading it. For a book that is sold in popular bookstores, I am not sure if this book is really meant for a general audience or if it's a book meant for those from a certain financial-trained education background.
January 8, 2022
Loved reading Dr Goh’s retort to the British Chancellor of the Exchequer in 1967! Singapore’s founding team had much character and sass.
Learnt lots of monetary history I didn’t know about Singapore and its independence
Learnt lots of monetary history I didn’t know about Singapore and its independence
January 8, 2022
4 stars is definitely a bit generous for this book
It covers in brief the history of the formation of Singapore institutions like the MAS, GIC as well as the thinking behind monetary policy etc.
Parts of it are pure gems in terms of the boldness of the vision of the founding fathers (deliberate play on the name of the book). Other parts are modestly interesting. I think it could have done with a few more 'war stories' from both the institutions given the very unique nature of the Singapore economy (extremely high and sustained surpluses / savings, small very open economy etc.) and the innovative approach the leaders took to managing monetary and surplus reserves.
It covers in brief the history of the formation of Singapore institutions like the MAS, GIC as well as the thinking behind monetary policy etc.
Parts of it are pure gems in terms of the boldness of the vision of the founding fathers (deliberate play on the name of the book). Other parts are modestly interesting. I think it could have done with a few more 'war stories' from both the institutions given the very unique nature of the Singapore economy (extremely high and sustained surpluses / savings, small very open economy etc.) and the innovative approach the leaders took to managing monetary and surplus reserves.
March 31, 2022
It took me ages to finish this book because of how dry the writing was. It read like a report with the endless use of signposting (horrors from school essays).
That aside, the story behind the history and people which led up to the formation of the MAS and GIC was interesting. I really enjoyed reading about Dr Goh's personality and I wish the book had further delved into the type of person he and the other founders/ key persons were. Many names were briefly mentioned in the book for their incredible contributions, but none of them left an impression by the end.
That aside, the story behind the history and people which led up to the formation of the MAS and GIC was interesting. I really enjoyed reading about Dr Goh's personality and I wish the book had further delved into the type of person he and the other founders/ key persons were. Many names were briefly mentioned in the book for their incredible contributions, but none of them left an impression by the end.
February 1, 2024
It is somewhere between a 3 star and 4. The history part of how GIC was formed is very interesting and upto the point. Makes you respect the founders of Singapore even more. Wished there was much more about how the reserves were build and how they went through the two low points- GFC and COVID. That part was too concise.
October 29, 2022
It’s such a satisfaction and pleasure to understand how GIC developed. Lots of details, information and cases been week written in this book.
July 1, 2024
#nsreads 23
A big thank you to GIC and Temasek for saving my macro essays by providing NIRC as an eval point for any government policy
A big thank you to GIC and Temasek for saving my macro essays by providing NIRC as an eval point for any government policy
Displaying 1 - 8 of 8 reviews