Singapore gov't agency predicts to have less job created in 2018

Source: Xinhua| 2018-01-30 13:57:51|Editor: Chengcheng

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SINGAPORE, Jan. 30 (Xinhua) -- The Singapore Economic Development Board (EDB), a government agency under the Ministry of Trade and Industry, announced on Tuesday that Singapore will see investment commitment numbers to be sustained at 2017 levels in 2018 but the jobs to be created will decrease.

According to the agency, Singapore anchored investments committing 9.4 billion Singapore dollars (7.2 billion U.S. dollars) in fixed asset investments and 6.5 billion dollars in total business expenditure per annum to Singapore last year. When these projects are fully implemented, they will create 22,500 new jobs.

The figures reflected the continued confidence of global companies in Singapore as a strategic location to base key business functions driving innovation and growth, the EDB said.

As the recovery in global aggregate demand and steady growth in Asia are tempered by continued uncertainties in the global environment, the EDB predicts the fixed asset investments will stand at between 8 billion and 10 billion Singapore dollars this year, while the total business expenditure per annum will stand at between 5 billion and 7 billion dollars. However, the forecast range for expected new jobs will be between 16,000 and 18,000, less than that in 2017.

"The 2017 investment commitment levels are a demonstration of Singapore's continued strength as a global business city and manufacturing hub," said EDB's chairman Beh Swan Gin at a press conference on Tuesday. "We expect the steady and solid level of investment interest from companies to continue in 2018 although there are uncertainties in the global operating environment."

According to the EDB, China contributed 9.6 percent to the 9.4 billion Singapore dollars of fixed asset investment commitments in 2017, and 13.8 percent to the 6.5 billion Singapore dollars total business expenditure investment commitments.

Beh said the figures reflected a trend that Chinese companies were expanding their footprints in Singapore and Southeast Asia, though some may not be represented by their direct presences but by investing in local companies.