Support for local firms, workers to adopt new tech like AI part of govt refresh of economic strategy

MTI will position Singapore as a home to leading firms, a key global business hub and a vital connector in the global economy to foster growth and create good jobs for Singaporeans, said Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, who is also Minister for Trade and Industry.

The Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce announced in April will support workers and businesses to navigate and respond to immediate challenges arising from increased tariffs, while the Economic Strategy Review announced in August will chart a forward-looking blueprint to better position Singapore’s economy, businesses and workers in this new landscape.

MTI will intensify efforts to capture opportunities in new growth areas, said DPM Gan. This includes strengthening advanced manufacturing by leveraging technology like AI, robotics and biotechnology, and seizing opportunities in the green and digital economies.

While it continues to attract globally leading companies, MTI will also help promising local enterprises go international and grow into regional or global leaders. It will also raise the productivity of local enterprises, by accelerating the adoption of digital and AI-enabled solutions and supporting workforce training.

MTI will deepen regional economic integration in Asean and strengthen the grouping’s partnership with major economies and other economic blocs. Beyond its existing 28 free trade agreements, MTI will expand trade links with emerging markets, such as Latin America, South Asia, the Middle East and Africa. It will also deepen engagement in existing trading frameworks like the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership.

Through the Economic Strategy Review and

the National AI Strategy

As part of the SkillsFuture movement, MOM will also drive the Career Health SG initiative to help Singaporeans navigate the fast-changing job market with confidence. It will also help those who face setbacks in their careers to bounce back, through schemes like SkillsFuture Jobseeker Support.

MOM will encourage flexible work, promote multi-generational workplaces, and enable better balance between work and personal priorities. It will strengthen the Central Provident Fund system so that those who contribute consistently can be assured of meeting their basic needs in old age, including by raising the Basic Retirement Sum for future cohorts.

It will also support Singaporeans in gaining global exposure for professional development and future leadership, and refine foreign workforce policies so that businesses can bring in talent that complements the Singaporean core, and create more jobs and opportunities for Singaporeans.

MOM is raising standards through the Workplace Fairness Act, to assure employees and job seekers of fair treatment. It is also working to ensure that the 2028 goal of reducing the fatal injury rate to below one per 100,000 workers remains on track.

The Employment Act will be updated to ensure adequate protections for different groups of workers, to keep up with new workplace and technological trends, while streamlining compliance for businesses. The ministry will also study how to better support platform workers, the self-employed and freelancers in terms of workplace protections, reskilling and career pathways. It will also professionalise skilled trades to allow for multiple pathways to success.

DPM Gan, who is also Minister-in-charge of MAS, said MAS will ensure a timely and appropriate monetary policy response if there is unexpected weakening of cyclical economic conditions, while considering other supportive measures together with the financial sector. It has eased monetary policy settings twice so far in 2025 in response to the sustained decline in Singapore’s core inflation rate.

MAS will continue to work with the financial industry and other government agencies to protect Singapore’s financial system from illegal activities. Noting existing measures like the introduction of Money Lock to limit potential losses should customers’ digital banking access be compromised, DPM Gan said MAS will consider other safeguards to fight scams, such as stronger user authentication to prevent unauthorised transactions.

MAS will continue to work with financial institutions to deepen capabilities across key asset classes such as banking, foreign exchange, insurance, asset and wealth management, and payments. It will also support financial institutions in building capabilities to adopt AI technologies in financial services, and facilitate industry efforts to expand the use of tokenisation in financial assets transactions to achieve greater efficiency and lower cost.

DPM Gan said the NRF seeks to build strong research expertise and a dynamic research, innovation and enterprise (RIE) ecosystem that advances Singapore’s competitiveness, and drives societal and economic impact for the Republic and the world. It is leveraging deep scientific capabilities and intellectual property to catalyse further research and development, and will also deepen international research partnerships.

Giving an update on the country’s RIE 2025 plan, for which $28 billion has been allocated over five years, DPM Gan said Singapore’s field-weighted citation impact – a measure of research quality – grew from 1.47 in 2014 to 1.74 in 2024, which is 74 per cent above the global average. There are also more than 20 corporate laboratories and centres of innovation in Singapore, and business expenditure on research and development increased from $5.5 billion in 2018 to $8.1 billion in 2022.

Building on this, DPM Gan said RIE 2030 will sharpen the NRF’s focus on achieving transformative outcomes for the economy and national strategic priorities. It will initiate various research and development programmes such as RIE Flagships and RIE Grand Challenges to drive stronger outcomes in key economic areas and national priorities.