Song began his career in 1984 as a “boring macro analyst” in Kuala Lumpur and has never looked back. After moving to Singapore in the 1990s, he has witnessed the city’s evolution firsthand. Even after retiring last August from his final post as an economic advisor at CGS International Securities Singapore, Song remains a keen watcher of the local economy, combining official data and his ground observations to parse the challenges or opportunities ahead. These days, Song has a part-time role as economic advisor at Singapore-based fintech firm SDAX.
As an economist for over four decades, Song Seng Wun cheerfully practices the dismal science — strolling the island, eyeballing queues, polishing plates and downing mugs. Almost every morning, Song strolls five minutes from his Tanjong Pagar flat to Maxwell Food Centre to gauge the crowd size and the length of tourists’ queues. “Just general observations, to kaypoh (local slang for busybody) on the pulse of the economy,” Song tells The Edge Singapore.
He knows the place well enough to list the table numbers. We’re at table 179. With the ease of a regular, he mentions that Lady Gaga sat at table 174 during her concert here last May.
