The Budget offered tax incentives to help firms with renovations, and to foster research and development, they said. However, more could have been done to help businesses cope with rising costs such as rentals and salaries.

'I think the [Finance] Minister (Tharman Shanmugaratnam) missed addressing a very significant issue of rapidly rising costs, which is threatening many of our companies,' said Mr Inderjit Singh (Ang Mo Kio GRC).

This could affect Singapore's competitiveness, he said. 'The Government should not ignore the immediate threats to our economy and companies caused by the rapid cost increases. This is the biggest problem for our businesses today.

'My fear is that local as well as multinational companies might accelerate moving their operations to lower-cost destinations.'

He cited a recent survey on office rental costs in which Singapore had risen from being the world's 17th most expensive city to the seventh in just a year, due to escalating property prices and rentals.

Mr Singh called for a constant long-term land release policy from the Government to help businesses cope with red-hot property demand.

He said under the current policy, the timing of government land releases depends on tenders that meet its reserve price for given sites.

Mr Singh added: 'This policy has had a significant impact in fuelling rapid property price increases a well as creating a severe shortage in office space.'

A policy for ongoing release would make land release predictable, so the market could make adjustments, he said.

He offered other suggestions including a corporate tax rebate, a cut in the foreign worker levy and a property tax rebate to help companies.

The issue of rental costs was also touched upon by Mr Michael Palmer (Pasir Ris-Punggol GRC).

He noted that office rents went up 'an astounding' 56.1 per cent from end-2006 to end-2007. Private residential rentals surged 41.2 per cent during the same period.

Mr Palmer advocated the provision of tax reliefs for rents to companies, noting that 'such relief need not be permanent, and can be reviewed annually'.

He added: 'It would give a much-needed boost to businesses at a time when they need to stay competitive.'

Ms Jessica Tan (East Coast GRC) said: 'Given the quantum of the cost increases businesses are facing, our small businesses, especially, are seeking help to manage the rapidly rising cost.'

She suggested a rental rebate or even a reduction of the workers' levy to help provide some direct relief for businesses.

Ms Tan said: 'Considering that SMEs (small and medium-size enterprises) form 99 per cent of all enterprises in Singapore and employ 62 per cent of our workforce, any such benefit would have had significant impact.'

Business costs were also mentioned by Senior Parliamentary Secretary (Environment and Water Resources) Amy Khor, who noted calls by companies for the Government to look into short-term measures to help them manage costs.

She said: 'These could include rebates on property tax for owner-occupied commercial and industrial premises given the steep increases in occupancy costs, which have led to the upward revision in annual values of many properties.'

alfoo@sph.com.sg