Report on recommendations to improve S’pore’s business competitiveness expected this year end

SINGAPORE – A report with key recommendations to improve the competitive edge of Singapore businesses will be published before the end of the year.

This comes after 19 industry engagement sessions between the Government and more than 100 businesses and trade association leaders from the private sector, which were held over the past seven months.

Feedback was gathered across all sectors of the economy, with the aim of helping local businesses stay competitive amid an uncertain global environment.

The report is being compiled by the Alliance for Action (AfA) on Business Competitiveness, which comprises 19 representatives from the Government, industry, trade associations and trade unions.

“We’ve made good progress,” said Senior Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling, at a doorstop interview before she co-chaired the fifth AfA committee meeting on Sept 18, likely the last top-level meeting ahead of the report’s publication.

Mr Mark Lee, Singapore Business Federation’s vice-chairman and AfA co-chairman, noted how the initiative cannot be seen as a panacea for solving all business challenges.

“Companies will need three things to be competitive: invest in upgrading and reskilling; innovate and transform; (and) identify megatrends and then reshape the business accordingly,” he said.

Greenphyto founder and chief executive Susan Chong, another AfA committee member, said there was a need to have greater clarity and transparency when it came to lease extensions for industrial land.

She added that businesses needed this certainty, not only to make longer-term plans and decisions but also to obtain critical financing.

Ms Chong suggested that JTC Corporation may have to look at each sector carefully and see what each requires.

Meanwhile, Mr Neil Parekh, a partner at Tikehau Capital who is in charge of looking at regulatory issues for the committee, said that while regulations are necessary, the question is how these can be reviewed and optimised to prevent “regulatory creep” – when existing rules hinder the evolving business landscape.

He gave an example of how laws for solar panels will need updating so that it will encourage more businesses to adopt this source of clean energy.

“The government agencies we’ve worked with must be complimented for their openness to our ideas, they’ve been collaborative and supportive,” he added.