At a panel discussion held at the SME Convention on Wednesday, SMU Professor of Economics Augustine Tan said that he was “astonished” by the government target of growing productivity by 2-3 per cent annually by 2020. Noting a “huge gap” between aspiration and reality, Prof Tan said that the restructuring comes at a time when Singapore’s economic competitiveness is hurt by a strong Singapore Dollar and the tightening of labour supply. Responding to Prof Tan’s concerns, OCBC economist Ms Selena Ling said that there is no ‘right’ timing for restructuring, and companies may in fact want to weather the pressure now when economic conditions are still soft and demand has yet to pick up.