Looser regulation, more risk: how Singapore plans to boost economy amid ‘dark shift from globalisation’
A whirlwind of change, including Trump, rising protectionism and Europe’s swing to the right, means the city state and its workers have no choice but to adapt, says government-appointed committee
Loosen regulation, embrace risk and strengthen free-trade deals. That was the advice of a long-awaited report by a Singapore government-appointed economic committee on Thursday.
Companies and public services in the Southeast Asian city state, already known as one of the most competitive and open economies in the world, should prioritise innovation; workers should reinvent themselves with new skills; and the government should give more support to emerging industries and smaller firms, urged the Committee on the Future Economy (CFE).
The committee, formed a year ago to devise solutions to boost an economy that has slowed to 1.8 per cent growth from 15.2 per cent in 2010, outlined its advice in a 109 page report that advocated seven broad strategies.
Why Singapore’s economic slowdown may be coming to an end
These ranged from supporting research and development and streamlining government grant schemes to riding the digital wave and upgrading the country’s transport infrastructure.
The Singapore government accepted the recommendations and said that ministers would provide a full response during the upcoming Budget, which will be read on February 20.
Painting a sombre outlook on the global economy, the CFE said the world had seen a “dark shift away from globalisation in 2016”.
“It no longer seems certain we are on an inexorable course towards greater globalisation, stronger multilateral institutions and a more connected world. Instead, we saw nativist politics and protectionist economics growing in strength and influence in Europe and the US,” said the committee, chaired by Singapore’s Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat and Trade and Industry (Industry) Minister S Iswaran.
