Budget 2015: Grow economy and Govt revenue to balance future budgets, says Lim Swee Say

SINGAPORE — Instead of cutting back on spending to balance future Government budgets, a better option is to grow the economy and Government revenue, said labour chief Lim Swee Say today (March 4) during the Budget debate.

His comments follow concerns over the country’s rising social spending and its impact on the Republic’s fiscal sustainability that were raised by Members of Parliament (MPs) yesterday.

To encourage future economic growth, Mr Lim gave three recommendations.

First, he noted the need to expand capacity for future growth, including raising labour productivity and innovation. Productivity growth will prevent wages from going down and rising unemployment, he said.

“Without additional capacity for our economy, there will be no room for growth,” said Mr Lim. “Manpower utilisation is near full capacity ... more of our growth in future capacity will have to come from growth in labour productivity and innovation.”

Second, Mr Lim felt that the full potential of the local workforce should be optimised. Among other things, he pointed out that it is not about making sure all jobs can attract locals but just two-thirds of all jobs here and the rest to be done by foreign manpower.

Mr Lim added that employers need to value every worker and stressed the importance of building a strong Singaporean core who can tap on the expertise of foreign manpower and to help enlarge the Singapore economic pie.

Third, Mr Lim urged the society to embrace the future and “turn challenges of today into opportunities of tomorrow”.

He cited technological advancements such as 3D printing and usage of big data to help solve today’s problems.