The economic development sector comprises the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI), the Ministry of Transport (MOT) and the Ministry of Manpower (MOM), along with parts of other agencies that have a role in promoting Singapore’s economic growth. The Ministry of Information, Communications and the Arts (MICA) also plays a major role in promoting the growth of the creative industries and the infocomm sector.

The three main economic ministries, MOT, MTI and MOM account for $4.5 billion or 10.2% of estimated government expenditure in FY2007.

The Government aims to develop Singapore as a vibrant global city that is a centre of knowledge, talent and enterprise. Besides pressing on with economic restructuring, strengthening existing economic sectors and nurturing new growth sectors, the government will continue to invest in research and development, manpower and infrastructure to strengthen our long-term competitiveness.

The Government aims to achieve the following outcomes:

• A centre of knowledge
• A centre for talent
• A centre for enterprise
• Excellent economic infrastructure

A centre of knowledge

We will build Singapore into a knowledge hub.

• The Research, Innovation and Enterprise Council (RIEC) is responsible for the strategic coordination of national R&D in Singapore. It is supported by the National Research Foundation (NRF), which also administers the National Research Fund. The Fund will be used to support key strategic initiatives in Environmental and Water Technologies, Biomedical Sciences and Interactive and Digital media, and to build up research capabilities in universities and the Campus for Research Excellence and Technological Enterprise. A second injection of $500 million in FY2007 will bring the Fund up to $1 billion.
• A*STAR will have a budget $750 million to develop R&D capabilities in FY2007. A*STAR will continue to intensify industry development efforts to catalyse greater commercialisation of technologies, leveraging on multi-disciplinary capabilities of Science and Engineering Research Council’s (SERC) Research Institutes (RI).

A centre for talent

We will create globally competitive workforce and great workplaces.

• MOM will allocate $218 million for initiatives to build a Globally Competitive Workforce. For example, the Workforce Development Agency (WDA) helps local workers remain employable through upgrading their skills. It works closely with NTUC, the economic agencies and industry associations to address the manpower challenges in key industry sectors. The Government will top up the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund by $100 million.
• MOM will budget $52 million for initiatives related to building Workplaces for optimal performance. For example, $31 million will be spent to protect the safety and health of workers while $17 million will be used to further strengthen labour relations and tripartite cooperation (between the Government, employers and unions) and enhance the quality of our workforce.

A centre for enterprise

We will grow the manufacturing, services and SME sectors.

• MTI will set aside $725 million to raise the productivity and upgrade the capabilities of SMEs. SPRING and IE Singapore will continue to partner financial institutions to increase financing-related facilities and sources of financing for SMEs. A total of $670 million (including loans) will be committed to financing schemes in FY2007.
• The Economic Development Board (EDB) will have an operating budget of $120.31 million to attract $8.5-9.0 billion of Fixed Asset Investment (FAI) commitments from manufacturing and $2.7-2.9 billion of Total Business Spending (TBS) commitments from services under its purview.
• The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will have a budget of $123.47 million to attract new investments into key tourism precincts, and anchoring more MICE (Meetings, Incentives, Conventions, and Exhibitions) events in Singapore.
• MICA will set aside $27 million to implement the Creative Industries Development Strategy to tap on the high growth potential of the Creative Industries, comprising Media, Design and Arts Sectors.

Excellent economic infrastructure

We will develop an excellent infrastructure.

• The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will commit $1,055 million towards rail projects. The plans include the 3.4-km Downtown Extension, 3.8-km Boon Lay Extension and 33.3-km Circle Line targeted to be opened from 2010 onwards.
• LTA will allocate $362 million for the expansion of the road network and the development of intelligent traffic management schemes to maximise the capacity of our road system, and the upgrading of existing commuter facilities.
• MOT will budget $284 million for the expansion of the capacity at Pasir Panjang Terminal to meet the long-term needs of our growing port and maintain Singapore’s premier status as the world’s largest trans-shipment hub.
• JTC Corporation (JTC) will set aside $835 million for land-related expenditure, including the construction of underground hydrocarbon storage caverns at Jurong Island.
• JTC will allocate $76 million for the development of industrial infrastructure, including the development of one-north into an integrated work-live-play-learn environment for the biomedical science, info-comm technology and media industries.
• MICA will commit $52 million towards the implementation of the iN2015 Masterplan that will help to enrich lives through infocomm, enhance Singapore’s economic competitiveness and innovation through infocomm, and increase the growth and competitiveness of the infocomm industry. This will include the enhancement of Singapore’s national infocomm infrastructure and enabling a more secure and trusted infocomm environment for individuals, businesses and government.