The Institute of Policy Studies (IPS) is holding this closed-door discussion to examine the impact of Budget 2014 on businesses, particularly whether it is useful in helping local businesses overcome with the challenges they face in restructuring their business. Increasing business costs and a tight labour market has been a drag on firms’ efforts to transform their businesses to be more efficient. In addition, there is a need for Small-Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to look beyond Singapore’s small domestic markets to find new growth opportunities in order to drive higher-value activities. In the latest budget, the government has significantly increased the amount of support to SMEs by enhancing existing programmes (e.g. Productivity and Innovation Credit (PIC) and Micro-Loan Programme) and introducing new programmes like the Infocomm Technologies (ICT) for Productivity and Growth (IPG) programme. This suite of assistance is aimed to commit businesses long term, especially SMEs, to achieve higher productivity and innovation. Are the refinements announced in Budget 2014 adequate to support the inroads we have made to achieve a sustainable economic growth, supported by long term productivity growth target of 2 – 3%?
In its Budget 2014 recommendations, the Singapore Business Federation (SBF)-led SME Committee (SMEC) has called for Government to adopt a targeted approach, with focus on SMEs in three situations: SMEs seeking growth, SMEs facing survivability issues, SMEs in sectors more impacted by rising costs and tightening manpower policies.
Mr Victor Tay is Chief Operating Officer of SBF, the country’s apex Business Chamber which assists its more than 17,000 members with business facilitation, voice representation and capacity building initiatives and services.
IPS invited Mr Tay to review the impact of the budget initiatives of the past few years on SMEs and analyse if the latest policy measures introduce in Budget 2014 echoes with SMEC’s recommendations.
Mr Kurt Wee, President of the Association of Small and Medium Enterprises (ASME) also accepted the invitation to be a discussant for this session. His personal business experience and involvement in ASME over the last 11 years give him the capacity to share valuable opinions on the topic.
The discussions will be moderated by Mr Manu Bhaskaran, Adjunct Senior Research Fellow at IPS. He is also Partner and Member of the Board of Centennial Group Inc., a policy advisory group based in Washington, D.C.
Please click here to view the programme.
The series of CDDs focusing on issues confronting the SME sector in Singapore includes: