SINGAPORE's strategy to develop itself as a gold hub has proven successful, as its imports and exports almost doubled in the years after the goods and services tax (GST) was removed for investment-grade precious metals in 2012.

In numbers released for the first time, statistics from International Enterprise Singapore (IE Singapore) show that total imports and exports of gold in Singapore have expanded from 474 tonnes in 2012 - when the GST exemption started - to a peak of 823 tonnes in 2014 before falling to 618 tonnes last year.