Enhancing the Budget to truly support SMEs

In a joint commentary, SMU Associate Professor of Law Eugene Tan noted that in recent years, the Singapore Budget has increasingly shifted its primary focus from fiscal attractiveness to social equity in view of the widening income divide. To buffer against disruptive volatility from movements of multinational companies in Singapore, Associate Prof Tan suggested that it is imperative that the country continue to strengthen, support and grow our small and medium enterprises (SMEs).  He added that targeted measures sensitive to ground realities can provide a much-needed boost to indigenous SMEs, an integral player of Singapore’s national competitiveness. This can be done without compromising the national imperatives of productivity improvements and the management of foreign manpower numbers in this critical phase of our economic restructuring.