Singapore will boost its security spending to tackle the terror threat, which is at one of its highest levels in recent years.

Already, there are plans to introduce a facial recognition system to quickly identify suspects, and install 11,000 more cameras in public areas such as hawker centres and linkways to bus interchanges.

Explaining the need to "take action" given the threat level, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said security spending will be a "very major item" in the upcoming Budget.

"I do expect our security expenditure to go up because we want to be able to support our security agencies in this very important mission to keep Singapore safe and secure," he said.

He also expects spending to continue to rise for the next 10 years.

In 2016, the Home Affairs, Defence and Foreign Affairs ministries spent $19.5 billion - slightly more than a quarter of the national Budget - on security. This was a 32 per cent rise from the $14.8 billion spent in 2011.

On how the Government will fund the higher spending, Mr Heng said "we need to do our long-term expenditure projection as well as our long-term revenue needs".

He declined to disclose how much more security spending will go up by, saying details will be provided on Budget Day, which falls on Feb 19.

Mr Heng, who was an Assistant Commissioner of Police in his early working life, was speaking to reporters after watching a demonstration by Home Team officers, who used explosives to break into a room where terrorists were hiding.

In the past two years, the police have trained quick response teams, including the Emergency Response Teams (ERTs) and In-situ Reaction Teams (IRTs), as a way to ramp up anti-terror capabilities.

The IRTs are sent to areas with high human traffic such as Orchard Road and Marina Bay, and they are likely to be the first responders in the event of an attack.

The ERTs are trained to react to armed attacks and, as a deterrent measure, they now patrol selected public areas, like shopping centres.

The police have also installed 65,000 cameras in 10,000 Housing Board estates. By 2020, 11,000 more police cameras will be added to supplement the existing ones. These new gadgets are a mix of 360-degree, pan-tilt-zoom and fixed cameras and some can analyse videos and send alerts to the police when crowds are detected, for example.

The police will also develop a Video Trawling and Analytics System that will be able to detect, track and recognise faces, according to the National Cybercrime Action Plan launched two years ago.

Mr Heng said Singaporeans are taking national security issues "very seriously".

"Since we rolled out SGSecure, many more people are taking action to raise their knowledge level... to prepare for contingencies," he added, referring to the national movement to mobilise Singaporeans to prevent and be prepared to deal with a terrorist attack.

For more Budget 2018 stories, go to str.sg/budget2018

Correction note: This story has been edited with police clarifications.