S'pore's reopening balances business, health needs: Wong

Singapore's reopening is aimed at maintaining its status as a business hub and staying connected to the world, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said yesterday.

And with an underlying philosophy that values stability and security, the Republic has taken a more cautious approach thus far, he said in an interview with BBC.

"We remain welcoming to talent, to investments... because that is so essential to Singapore's survival and the ability to thrive as a nation," he said. "Being open, staying open... it is existential for Singapore."

On Thursday, Singapore announced quarantine-free entry from next month for vaccinated travellers from Germany and Brunei, provided they test negative for Covid-19. Border restrictions have also been relaxed for travellers from Hong Kong and Macau as at 11.59pm last night.

These measures - part of a plan to gradually reopen borders and a wider road map to becoming a Covid-19-resilient nation - come after Singapore largely stopped accepting new entry applications for work pass holders from most countries in May, owing to a surge in virus cases globally.

Yesterday, in a Facebook post referencing the interview, Mr Wong wrote: "Businesses know that they will find good governance here, as well as a strong sense of social solidarity where we rally together to tackle challenges… We will continue to make adjustments to our policies, to strengthen public trust in globalisation, strengthen the social compact and bolster support for an open and dynamic economy.

"We do not take the faith that our people and businesses have in Singapore for granted. We will continue to double down on our connectivity and strengths, enhance our value proposition as a hub, and ensure good jobs and opportunities for all Singaporeans."

In the interview with the BBC's senior journalist Katie Silver yesterday, Mr Wong stressed that Singapore was "not New York or London" - cities that have chosen to return to business as usual while putting up with thousands of daily Covid-19 cases.

"As much as we want to resume normal life, and we are trying as much as we can to do so, we also want to ensure that we keep hospitalisation and ICU (intensive care unit) cases low, that we continue to ensure that our hospital system is intact, and we get to the end of the pandemic with minimum death and damage to our society," he said.

Thus, he said, the Republic takes a risk-based approach that calibrates measures according to data, evidence and rigorous assessments of the global situation.

Mr Wong said Singapore's move to tighten measures and throttle back some travel flows over the past few months turned out to be the right decision - it helped to keep fatalities here low (47 as at yesterday) and buy time for its vaccination roll-out.

"Now, we are one of the most highly vaccinated countries in the world," he said. "In a few weeks' time, 82 per cent of the entire population would have completed their vaccination. And if you take away the children who are not eligible for vaccination, that comes close to 90 per cent of the eligible population.

"That is a remarkable achievement… with that level of vaccination, I think we will have more confidence that even if clusters were to break out, as long as they do not overwhelm our hospital system, we can continue safely with our reopening plans."

This also puts Singapore in good stead to reconnect with the world, said Mr Wong.

"At some point, the pandemic will pass and travel will resume, and people will be able to once again travel more freely. I think companies and businesses recognise this… That is one of the reasons why, last year, we attracted $17 billion of investments... the highest in more than a decade."

Asked to comment on the challenge presented by remote working to Singapore's position as a global hub, Mr Wong said it was unlikely that employees would stop meeting face to face and rely entirely on virtual, remote connections.

"There may well be a scaling back to more hybrid models. But if you ask companies around the world and businesses around the world, they will tell you that the fundamentals for Asia's medium-to longer-term growth prospects remain strong, remain intact, and they would want to invest in Asia," he said.

"To invest in Asia… You cannot do it without a physical presence. And in order to have a physical presence, you have to decide on somewhere in Asia. We would want Singapore to be first in the list."