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 Government will take steps to help businesses overcome the challenges posed by the global economic slowdown and position the Singapore economy for the future. The Government aims to develop Singapore as a vibrant global city that is a centre of knowledge, talent and enterprise. Besides strengthening and rejuvenating the existing sectors and nurturing promising new growth sector, the Government will continue to invest in research and development (R&D), manpower and infrastructure to strengthen our long-term competitiveness. This sector accounts for $8,882 million or 20.4% of estimated government expenditure in FY2009.

The Government aims to achieve the following outcomes for Singapore:

• 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 Agency for Science, Technology and Research (A*STAR) will have a budget of $1.04 billion to strengthen R&D capabilities in FY2009. A*STAR will work closely with the Ministry of Health and the National Medical Research Council to integrate basic, translational and clinical research for the biomedical sciences. In FY2009, A*STAR will continue to intensify efforts to catalyse greater commercialisation of technologies, leveraging on the multi-disciplinary capabilities of Science and Engineering Research Council (SERC)’s Research Institutes.

A Centre for Talent

We will create globally competitive workforce and great workplaces.

• MOM will spend $457.7 million to build a globally competitive workforce. In December 2008, MOM and WDA introduced the 2-year Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (SPUR) to help companies and workers manage the impact of the economic downturn and build new capabilities to seize opportunities during the economic recovery. To help PMETs re-train, course subsidies for PMET-level courses under SPUR will be increased from 80% to 90%; selected tertiary courses at UniSIM and the three publicly funded univerisities will also be covered under SPUR. In tandem with SPUR, MOM and WDA will continue to implement the key initiatives under the 10-year CET Masterplan to enhance our resident workforce profile to meet industry needs.
• MOM will be allocating $71.4 million to building Workplaces for Optimal Performance. MOM together with the Workplace Safety and Health Council will step up its outreach programmes and enforcement efforts to bring down the workplace fatality rate to 1.8 fatalities per 100,000 workers by 2018. To manage our foreign workforce, MOM will work with other government agencies to address the various foreign worker issues such as providing proper housing. MOM will further its outreach efforts and expand its enforcement efforts against illegal employment and infringements of foreign workers’ basic employment standards.

A Centre for Enterprise

We will continue to develop the manufacturing and services sectors, and help small and medium enterprises (SMEs) grow.

• The Economic Development Board (EDB) will have a total budget of $613.13 million to attract $10- $12 billion of Fixed Asset Investment (FAI) commitments, and $6-$7 billion of Total Business Spending (TBS) commitments from manufacturing and services projects. It expects to create 12,000-15,000 skilled jobs from these investments.
• The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) will have a total budget of $413.7 million to develop and invest in quality tourism projects. STB expects tourism receipts in 2009 to moderate to $12-$12.5 billion, and will put in place short-term measures to help the tourism industry weather the current downturn.
• International Enterprise (IE) Singapore will be given a total budget of $213.29 million to help Singapore-based companies gain market access to our key markets of China, India, Southeast Asia and Middle East. IE Singapore will also step up efforts to engage and understand emerging and new markets, and economies which present potential opportunities, such as Latin America, Russia, Libya, and Africa.
• MTI will continue to focus efforts to assist start-ups and SMEs by providing access to financing; supporting capability-building and promoting a pro-enterprise culture. The Standards, Productivity and Innovation Board (SPRING) and IE Singapore will continue to partner financial institutions to increase local enterprises’ access to financing. The recent enhancements to business financing schemes are anticipated to support an additional $2.3 billion in loans to enterprises in 2009.
• MICA will continue to promote the creative industries by setting aside $20 million for initiatives under the Creative Industries Development Strategy. The initiatives include the Singapore Media Fusion 2015 (SMF2015), which aims to drive the development of the media sector and DesignSingapore Phase II, which aims to develop a vibrant, integrated and competitive design cluster.
• MICA will be allocating $183 million to continue implementing the Intelligent Nation (iN2015) Masterplan, which aims to transform Singapore into an intelligent nation, and global city powered by infocomm. One key initiative is the establishment of the Singapore’s Next Generation National Infocomm Infrastructure comprising the ultra-high speed Next Generation National Broadband Network (NGNBN) and the pervasive Wireless Broadband Network.

Excellent Economic Infrastructure

We aim to develop an excellent infrastructure.

• The Land Transport Authority (LTA) will spend $3,068 million on rail projects. The key on-going projects include the Circle Line and the Downtown Line. A new platform and track will also be built at the Jurong East MRT station to serve the North-South Line.
• LTA will invest $1,171 million to expand our road network. Major projects include the Marina Coastal Expressway, the widening of Central Expressway (CTE), the extension of Bartley Road to Tampines Avenue 10, the upgrading of the Woodsville Interchange and a road tunnel from Sentosa Gateway to Kampong Bahru Road/Keppel Road.
• MOT will provide $714 million to continue with the expansion of the Pasir Panjang Terminal to provide capacity for the future growth of our port and hence maintain our position as the world’s largest trans-shipment hub.
• The Jurong Town Corporation (JTC) will allocate $385.83 million to develop industrial infrastructure, including the infrastructural works for the Jurong Rock Cavern which is an underground oil storage complex; the upgrading of Seletar Airport to support an aerospace maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) hub; and the development of One-North, a 200-ha work-live-play-learn ecosystem for the biomedical science, infocomm and media industries.
• JTC will set aside $1.07 billion for land-related expenditure to create new industrial space to support the long term growth of Singapore’s manufacturing sector. This includes reclamation and development of land in areas like Tuas View Extension and Jurong Island, as well as excavation costs for creating the underground caverns.

Resilience Package (Budget 2009)

A Resilience Package will be implemented to help Singapore see through the current period of exceptional difficulty. The key objective of the Package is to help Singaporeans keep their jobs to the maximum extent possible and help viable companies stay afloat. Some of main expenditure measures related to economic development are as follows.

• A Jobs Credit scheme will be introduced to provide incentive for employers to retain their local workers and help companies through the exceptional downturn. This will cost the Government $4.5 billion.
• A Special-Risk Sharing Initiative (SRI) will be introduced, consisting of the new Bridging Loan Programme (BLP) and the new risk sharing for trade financing, including 75% for trade loans. The SRI is estimated to lead to an additional $11 billion of loans in 2009.
• In light of the severe downturn in demand faced by commercial tenants, JTC, HDB and SLA will provide a 15% rental rebate to their tenants and land lessees.