Transcription
Singapore is pushing for stronger economic growth even as global protectionism intensifies. Trade and industry minister Gimyong says the economy could expand by up to 4% and in good years even higher. Currently, growth over the next decade is pegged between 2 to 3% per year.
"There will also be times when the global economy will slow down and our growth will also slow down consequently and therefore that will bring us to between 2 to 3% uh perom. However, we see opportunities to get a larger productivity lift from technology such as AI, robotics, as well as automation."
Singapore will intensify higher value-added industries like precision medicine and autonomous vehicles. Ways to help local startups grow and expand into new markets will be explored. Amid geopolitical uncertainties, Mr. Gun added that Singapore plans to expand its network of economic partnerships and free trade agreements.
"These, he says, will open up new opportunities. Our network of FTAs also makes us an attractive destination for foreign investments and has enabled us to build a resilient economy and provides that provides for good jobs for our people. We must double down on our efforts to preserve and expand our international economic space."
And to take us through Singapore's new economic blueprint, we have with us Manpower Minister Dr. Tani Ling, who's also Minister in Charge of Energy and Science and Technology and also a member of the Singapore Economic Resilience Task Force. Minister, welcome to the studio.
Hello, good evening. Well, let's start with uh DPM Gun's statements in Parliament as we heard earlier. DPM Gun said that if we do it right, growth can reach 3 to 4%. Now, what exactly then must businesses, workers, or even the government do to get it right, so to speak?
Well, collectively, uh DPM Gun articulated uh three strategic thrusts. The first really strengthening on what we already have, as well as going after emerging sectors. So today, um we are fairly strong in the aerospace sector, uh in semiconductors, in digital financial services, as well as in healthcare. And if we can continue to anchor, to really leverage on whatever deep uh expertise and talent that we have already developed, I think that would bring us to a next level. On top of that, for the emerging sectors, uh we are focusing on precision medicine. For precision medicine is expected to grow uh on a compounded growth by about 11% per annum right up to 2035, where it would expect to touch about 300 billion US um in in in aggregate in those kind of setting itself. We have doubled down, um whether it is in the AAR, the RIIE uh ecosystem itself. Uh we are really going all out to pursue um initiatives. And that um over at the um second thrust itself, uh what we intend to do is to anchor global leaders here in Singapore, whether it's in uh um AVs, whether it's even in space, uh and again in in healthcare. Today, um eight out of every 10 biopharmaceutical companies, the leading ones, are already anchored here in Singapore. In the life sciences uh tools section, seven out of 10 are here. So we intend to leverage on them and really build uh on top of that. We will enable our SMEs, our local companies, our startups to capture that growth space. Then of course, at the end, we have to continue to build on our fundamentals, um making sure that the AI, the deployment of AI, the AI fluency is as pervasive as possible, um to achieve large strata of our population catching up that AI fluency. Then we're going to really adopt uh automation, robotics, and all of this, of course, taking into account our constraints, our sustainability, our energy needs, all that will be taken into consideration. So with that, we think, you know, from the numbers perspective, 3 to 4% is achievable. Probably between two to three plus percent will come from that value-added productivity push because we're going for that high end, and 1% 1 plus percent will come from workforce labor force growth.
Well, you mentioned the 2 to 3% as well, which um DPM said is the projected trend growth for the next 10 years. Yes. So why is this benchmark right for Singapore?
We are fairly, we're starting on a fairly high uh level already. And um for us, um in a lot of uh developing economies, people have sort of looked at us as as sort of reaching a a mature level. So I think growth in a very, very high end would be not that easy. We think that um in the early years, growth usually tends to be a bit lumpy, but over the longer run itself, between 2 to 3% is achievable. Now, in good years, we are hoping to get an higher growth, three, four, maybe even four plus percent to catch up on those years that are a little bit more lackluster. But I think that generally, um given the highly qualified workforce that we have, the talent bench that we have, and our openness, the connectivity to the whole world as a hub itself, I think that's achievable.
And then what can, what kind of key levers, right, can Singapore use to then squeeze out that extra one to two percentage points to get that good year of growth?
So I think it's collective, um all of us working together. Obviously, we need uh our workforce, our population to come alongside with us, um to have that uh adaptability, that nimbleness, that agility, and that willingness to learn because today, disruptions, accelerated pace of change, and so on, behooves us all of us to adopt this lifelong learning mentality. Importantly, our businesses must also learn to be adaptable, to be able to pivot and transform. And the government will constantly work at rolling out schemes, whether it is a productivity solutions grant, job redesign um grants, um to even helping companies embrace tech, embrace digitalization, embrace this learning of AI and adoption of AI. And we want this to be as pervasive as possible. Lastly, as we bring in top-notch MNCs here, we hope that many of the HQs will then have spillover effects that will continue to bring up and uplift all of our SMEs and our local enterprises.
Yeah, you mentioned being adaptable in this case, right? It is quite an uncertain time for a lot of businesses in Singapore. So, we have things like the trade tensions, we have tariffs, we have global conflicts. So what is the Economic Resilience Task Force doing tangibly to support companies who are concerned and maybe feeling a bit, you know, not confident about their prospects in this climate?
So again, I think we think in terms of uh three, right? So first, the third uh task force, the Economic Resilience Task Force, the first uh uh strategic initiative is sense-making. Because today, what's happening is that there are a lot of changes, a lot of volatilities, a lot of uncertainty. I think the sense-making part, where we work very closely with the Singapore Business Federation to understand which are the sectors that's most impacted, which are the ones that needs a lot of calibration, a lot of support. I think that is what gives us that form of triangulation for us to then come up with very precise policies, moves, and initiatives to help, um, you know, sort of facilitate companies in those areas that are most affected. Then the second committee, which I co-chair with the tripartite partners, looks at workers, how to ensure that this uh uh changes, all these uh disruptions, we can actually help them to overcome these disruptions and not only just overcome but really ride on a new wave. And at the same time, looking at the broader businesses that are impacted by these tariffs to see how uh they can adapt, how they can diversify, what kind of advisory that uh we can provide them in terms of navigating all these tariffs um and and the difficulties that ensue. So as a result of that, the second part then comes up, the second thrust comes up with a business adaptation grant, which initially would provide up to 100,000 um for SMEs um and all all companies. So SMEs, the local SMEs will get about 50% of the grant. Um those non-SMEs will get 30% of the grant. And then on top of that, the ERS, which is the Economic Review um Strategic Committee, the five subcommittees formed under that, that will look at um overall um our economic climate, the type of industries that we're in. We'll look at entrepreneurship to see what are the roles that are needed um for SMEs to survive, to transcend, and to really go uh abroad. At the same time also looking at sustainability solutions and generally consulting with different groups, having widespread dialogue and and feedback sessions to see how we can really leapfrog using uh this crisis, so to speak, but you know, finding opportunities in this crisis.
Yeah, all of that on the business front. But when we turn to jobs in this case, a very big concern for many workers is of course AI and the adoption of digital skills. In this case, how do ordinary Singaporeans, you know, all of us who let's say especially the mid-career workers and and those who are lower income uh earning potential, how are they being supported uh in this climate specifically with any new tangible initiatives or help?
Well, I can perfectly empathize and uh understand the angst and the apprehension that people look when they when they think about AI because, you know, there's all this talk, um all these reports internationally talking about how it would disrupt, how it would displace jobs and so on. But I think the first step is really taking that small step of learning and embracing AI. I mean, there are a lot of uh uh apps out there. There are a lot of tools out there that that today any worker can just go in and use. So to that end itself, what we're doing as part of the National AI Strategy 2.0 is to have a broad group of creators um, you know, of of AI, to be anchored here. And parallel with that, an even broader base of of practitioners. And with this group of creators and practitioners, we can then have, as wide, you can almost say, evangelize to as wide a group of population to become users. So at different uh levels, from the time that they go into university, at the IELS, now, curriculum have been tweaked and modified to include AI. Coming out to at the workforce itself, we have got multiple schemes, grants available for SMEs going digital to embrace modules with AI, off-the-shelf solutions with AI for them to start using. And to the larger enterprise, we have even funded a broad-based bespoke, individually customized solution for that broad enterprise under the Enterprise Compute Initiative. Likewise, on the workers' front, um SkillsFuture comes up with a significant number of uh courses for them to upgrade themselves, upskill, and reskill themselves. For those in the mid-career segment, there's also the Mid-Career Pathway Program, SkillsFuture Level Up, SkillsFuture Credit to the entire workforce. What we've tried to do is to integrate them by providing an Enterprise Workforce Transformation Package, which I announced at Budget COS this uh year in March, of up to $400 million for enterprises um to use to transform themselves and at the same time upgrade the workforce. At the same time, uh WSG has all this uh CCPs, the Career Conversion Program. We work with NTU, the labor movement through the E2I, and you know, for for placement. On top of that, NTU, the labor movement also has what we call Company Training Committees, again funded them to the tune of about 200 million. So all in, if you look at the next four to five years, the government is committed to investing up to 10 billion in our workforce to make sure that they are ready. So the key thing is to make sure that this is as diffused as pervasive as possible.
Minister, thank you so much for sharing your perspectives with us. I've been speaking with Manpower Minister Dr.