April 01, 2021, 04:16 PM
Joe Biden recently gave his first full press conference as President of the United States, and gave an indirect shoutout to Singapore.
On March 25, Biden spoke to multiple reporters, discussing topics such as voting rights, immigration and the Covid-19 vaccination programme.
But he also emphasised America's infrastructure, hinting at an upcoming push to increase investment in that area.
America ranks 13th, Singapore ranks 1st
Biden said that America ranked thirteenth in the world for quality of infrastructure.
The president's Instagram account followed up and shared a graphic of the top 13 countries in the world, ranked by their infrastructure quality.
The U.S. is thirteenth, Japan is fifth, China is third, and none other than Singapore is first.
Image from POTUS Instagram page.
According to a Washington Post fact checker, Biden was referring to the World Economic Forum global infrastructure rankings.
The Forum's most recent rankings cover 2019, but did not release rankings in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
In 2019, Singapore was not only ranked highest for infrastructure quality, it also beat the U.S. to take the top spot for the world's most competitive economy.
Biden later unveiled his ambitious American Jobs Plan, which is estimated to cost US$2 trillion. Biden proposes to raise the corporate tax rate to partly cover the cost.
The Plan aims to, among other things, fix roads and highways while ensuring clean drinking water, a reliable electric grid and high-speed broadband Internet access for all Americans.
Related story:
Top image from POTUS's Instagram account.
If you like what you read, follow us on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Telegram to get the latest updates.