Singapore aims to grow its manufacturing sector by 50% over the next 10 years to maintain its competitiveness, with the pandemic highlighting its importance to the trade-reliant city-state’s economy.
But the goal is ambitious as it will become harder to rely on foreign labour to supplement the local workforce, Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing said on Monday (Jan 25). To meet the aim, Singapore has to innovate and produce higher-value products rather than look to lower the cost of production or labour, he added.
The plan comes as the manufacturing industry emerged as one of Singapore’s bright spots as it underwent its worst recession on record. The pandemic has created a demand for products from sectors such as biomedical electronics and precision engineering sub-sectors, which in turn generated demand for supporting sectors such as logistics.
