[SINGAPORE] The global economy is expected to remain troubled for some time, with businesses holding back on expansions and new investments, but Singapore must do more than respond to these immediate headwinds, said Prime Minister Lawrence Wong on Friday (Aug 8) evening.
In a televised National Day message that was pre-recorded at the Padang, he said the Republic must also look ahead to “anticipate what is on the horizon, and prepare to ride the next wave of change”.
He noted that other countries with more resources and larger populations are not standing still, which will make it harder for smaller states such as Singapore to hold its own. This is why Singapore is refreshing its economic strategy to strengthen its competitiveness, deepen its capabilities and secure its future in a very different world.
He noted that the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce – chaired by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong – will continue to assess the risks, identify new opportunities and prepare the country’s firms and workers for what lies ahead.
“To stay ahead, Singapore must remain exceptional – in our cohesion, in our resolve, in our performance,” said PM Wong. “We must move faster, adapt quicker and innovate smarter.”
This means embracing new technologies, such as artificial intelligence and robotics, and “applying them meaningfully across our economy”, he said, thus enabling the people, workers and businesses to make full use of these tools to sharpen the Republic’s competitive edge.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
“The pace of change will be rapid and not always comfortable. There will be disruption. Not everyone will find the transition easy,” he added. “But no one will face these challenges alone. This government will walk this journey with you – just as we have done for 60 years now.”
A changed world
Singapore celebrates 60 years of independence on Saturday, having started out from a “precarious” position as a small and vulnerable country that had to “summon the resolve and will to survive as an independent nation”, said PM Wong. “At many points, history could have easily taken a darker turn. Yet against all odds, we made it,” the prime minister noted.
“This is what makes SG60 so significant – not just that we endured, but that we prevailed and prospered when few believed we would even survive.”
At 60, Singapore stands at yet another fork in the road, he pointed out. He reiterated that the world has changed and the situation has in fact “grown graver” than three months ago, with new conflicts, deepened geopolitical tensions and hardening trade barriers.
“Difficult times lie ahead. But we are not going to throw up our hands in despair,” he said, adding that Singapore will overcome its new challenges.
“And we will do so in our own way. We will shape the future we want with our own actions.”
PM Wong pledged to expand opportunities for learning and skills-upgrading, strengthen social safety nets and help every Singaporean who has faced setbacks to bounce back and press on.
He said this was why he launched Forward Singapore, a feedback-gathering exercise that engaged 200,000 citizens over 16 months, shortly before he became prime minister last year.
The idea is to refresh the Republic’s social compact and give every Singaporean the support and confidence to travel the road ahead, he added.
Singapore spirit
“This is a shared effort, involving all in ‘Team Singapore’,” he noted, adding that the government is partnering community groups, businesses, unions and many passionate individuals to shape solutions and put ideas into action.
“This ethos of mutual support and shared responsibility is crucial because Singapore’s future must be built by all of us together – through our actions, our compassion, and our willingness to lift up one another,” he said. “At the heart of this is the Singapore spirit – our deep sense of solidarity and shared purpose.”
This spirit that has sustained Singapore over the past 60 years will be “even more vital” in the years ahead, he added, as the pace of change quickens and the world becomes more uncertain.
PM Wong wished all Singaporeans a happy National Day.
