| |
| |
![]() |
| |
|
| |
|
| |
|
SINGAPORE: As the global economy recovers, Singapore's economic landscape must continue to evolve if it wants to stay ahead of the competition.
Academics and private sector economists at the Singapore Policy Forum on Tuesday said that this should include building a stronger base of local enterprises, as well as focusing more on the services sector rather than manufacturing.
Many economists believe that the global economic landscape will look very different in the aftermath of the economic crisis. External demand may not return to pre-crisis levels anytime soon, due to unresolved financial issues in Europe and the US, coupled with potential asset bubbles.
And so, experts said Singapore needs to develop a more diversified corporate eco-system.
"Currently we have a very strong presence of multi-national companies and government-linked companies, which I think is good and has been very positive for Singapore. But what we lack is sufficiently strong private local enterprise, and I think we need to do a lot more to try and help develop this," said Manu Bhaskaran, CEO, Centennial Asia Advisors.
"The government through SPRING Singapore and other agencies are already doing quite a bit. But I think one of the problems we have for local enterprise is the capacity to grow quickly by accessing larger markets, gaining economies of scale and the like," he added.
According to other experts, another way to gain access to a larger market is to leverage on technology and carve out a niche by offering unique services.
Jimmy Koh, treasury economist, UOB said: "It is no longer about products, it is about services. It is no longer about just services, but it is the unique services that no one can duplicate.
"We (Singapore) moved from electronics to bio sciences. We are moving from the traditional services to tourism, in terms of educational tourism, medical tourism and the two Integrated Resorts that will kick in next year. So it is trying to create something - the niche that in the short term will be difficult to be duplicated by any country."
Singapore is already a "service economy" with two thirds of the nation's total output generated through services.
"Many types of services are well known to be recession-proof in the sense that they are not so much affected during bad times - for example, education and even healthcare," said Choy Keen Meng, professor, Economic Growth Centre, NTU.
"So I think these are some of the areas the government should aggressively promote in terms of giving state incentives, perhaps giving tax breaks and subsidies," he added.
Going forward, experts are hopeful that the Economic Strategies Committee, announced by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong earlier this year, will look at Singapore's growth model and review its viability in a post-crisis world.
- CNA/sc
|
