The Singapore Democratic Party (SDP) has criticised this year's budget as not doing enough to restructure the economy and boost productivity.

In a press conference launching their shadow budget on Wednesday, SDP treasurer Vincent Wijeysingha said the Government needs to do more to wean Singapore off a dependence on foreign investment and cheap foreign labour.

Subsidy schemes, such as the Wage Credit Scheme, do little to reduce this dependency and only benefit companies in the short term while doing little to address long-term problems such as high commercial rents, he said.

"We can't just keep kicking the can down the road, where we give out subsidies now and deal with economic transformation later," he said.

In its shadow budget, the SDP is suggesting setting up what it calls a "troika" of economic agencies to encourage research and development, productivity and entrepreneurship.

It would comprise of the Economic Development Board, Spring Singapore, and a new agency called the Singapore Enterprise Agency.