Question
Mr Neil Parekh Nimil Rajnikant: To ask the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether an update can be provided on the foreign direct investment commitments that the Singapore Economic Development Board has received in the first six months of 2024; (b) whether Singapore is on track for its investment targets for 2024; and (c) what will be some of the important and special factors for Singapore to uphold to ensure that the country remains an attractive investment destination and good jobs are created in the future economy.
Written Answer by Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Trade and Industry Gan Kim Yong
1. The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB) attracted S$1.7 billion in Fixed Asset Investment (FAI) commitments in the first quarter of 2024. Data on FAI commitments for the second quarter of 2024 will be available in the later part of August 2024. Barring unforeseen circumstances, EDB expects to meet its medium- to long-term investment commitment goal of S$8 – S$10 billion in FAI this year.
2. The global business and investment environment has become more challenging due to ongoing geopolitical tensions, increased competition for investments, and macro-economic uncertainty. We must therefore continuously enhance our value proposition and investment promotion toolkit to attract high-quality and high-value investments. For example, Prime Minister Wong announced at Budget 2024 that we will introduce a new Refundable Investment Credit to support qualifying firms which develop high-value and substantive economic activities in Singapore.
3. To retain Singapore’s competitive edge as a knowledge-based and innovation-driven economy, we are doubling down on our strengths. For example, we are investing heavily in research & development and talent development. In addition, we are building and ramping up new economic engines of growth in areas such as artificial intelligence, green economy, and precision medicine. These moves are part of our ongoing and concerted efforts to ensure Singapore remains an attractive investment destination which creates good jobs for Singaporeans.