Recruiting in China

SINGAPORE Andy Xie's resignation as Morgan Stanley's chief economist in Asia last week followed an e-mail message in which he characterized Singapore as an economic failure.

Xie, a Shanghai-born economist who worked at Morgan Stanley for nine years, sent the message to his colleagues after attending the International Monetary Fund and World Bank annual meetings last month in the Southeast Asian island state.

In the e-mail message, he questioned why Singapore had been chosen as host for the conference and said that delegates "were competing with each other to praise Singapore as the success story of globalization."

Xie also made unsubstantiated allegations about the use made of Singapore's financial services by corrupt officials and businessmen in Indonesia.

The $118 billion Singaporean economy has experienced three recessions since the 1997 Asian financial crisis, and is expected to grow by as much as 7.5 percent this year.

The city-state is grappling with growing competition from China and India, the most populous and second most populous countries, respectively, where labor costs are less than a quarter of those in Singapore.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong of Singapore said last month that the city- state's economy could sustain annual growth of 3 percent to 5 percent for the next 10 to 15 years as the country expanded industries from information technology to tourism.

Singapore is ending a four-decade ban on casinos. The government plans to triple tourism revenue to $19 billion and double visitors to 17 million by 2015.

Officials from the public relations departments of the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the government information service declined to comment on the contents of Xie's message. They also declined to be identified.

When reached on his cellphone Monday, Xie said that he had not decided on what he would do next.

"I'm not at liberty to comment on anything," Xie said. "I'm in Guangzhou, and I'm taking a break on top of a mountain. It's quite nice here."

Morgan Stanley confirmed the contents of the e-mail message, but the firm, based in New York, said that it did not elaborate on the reasons behind departures of employees.

"This is an internal e-mail based on personal suppositions and aimed at stimulating internal debate amongst a small group of intended recipients," Cheung Po-ling, a spokeswoman for Morgan Stanley in Hong Kong, wrote in a statement. "The e-mail expresses the views of one individual, and does not in any way represent the views of the firm."

"Morgan Stanley has been a very strong supporter of Singapore, and has a great deal of respect for Singapore's achievements," Cheung said.

Morgan Stanley has handled $1.5 billion in merger deals in Singapore this year, according to data compiled by Bloomberg News.

It advised Temasek Holdings, the Singapore government investment company, in its purchase in March of a 9.9 percent stake in Tata Teleservices, based in Mumbai, India.

Xie worked at the corporate finance division at Macquarie Bank in Singapore before joining Morgan Stanley.