In this year’s Budget 2019 speech, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat revealed that the Singapore economy grew by 3.2 per cent in 2018, a slight dip from last year’s 3.6 per cent.
As a result, over the past five years, the real median income of Singaporeans has grown by 3.6 per cent per year.
In 2019, global growth is expected to moderate, while uncertainties and downside risks in the global economy have increased.
He went on to provide an overview of the Industry Transformation Maps (ITMs) that were first launched in 2016.
After three years of intensive work, all 23 ITMs have been launched, covering about 80% of the economy, he says.
There is good progress, aided by the global economic upturn in recent years.
Productivity, measured by real value-added per actual hour worked, grew by 3.6 per cent in the past three years, higher than the 1.6 per cent per annum from 2012 to 2015.
But this is a continuing journey, he says. “There is much more to do, especially in sectors like domestic services”.
Meanwhile, outward-oriented sectors such as manufacturing sees strong performance.
