Here's how Singapore backs SMEs to overcome short-term woes

Minister S Iswaran cited gov't policies for SMEs.

The Singapore government is steadfast in helping short and medium enterprises overcome short-term difficulties,
Minister for Trade and Industry S Iswaran said.

Speaking at the Budget Debate 2017, Mr Iswaran said the government recognises the immediate challenges SMEs are facing.

"We will continue to provide short-term relief where necessary through the system of broad-based support we have built up over the years," he said.

One relief he cited is to help SMEs with wage cost.

"We had introduced the Wage Credit Scheme and the Special Employment Credit (SEC) scheme. We also extended the additional SEC at this Budget until end-2019. Together, these amount to about $1 billion in cash payouts to businesses in March 2017," the minister noted.

Further, the minister noted that the government had introduced the SME Working Capital Loan in 2016, which has catalysed more than $700 million dollars in loans to about 4,300 SMEs. This is part of helping SMEs with their liquidity. Corporate tax rebates were also extended, raising the rebate cap to $25,000 at 50% of tax payable for year assessment 2017.

"We also closely monitor rental and other business costs. In 2016, industrial, retail and office rentals all fell in 2016. We will continue to maintain a steady pipeline of industrial land and space to ensure that there is competitive pressure in the market and rents remain affordable," Mr Iswaran stated.

And although he said the government has not introduced further broad-based measures, it has instead put in place customised support for specific industries due to their varied circumstances.

"For example, for the Marine and Offshore Engineering sector, we introduced the M&OE Engineering Bridging Loan and the M&OE Internationalisation Finance Scheme in November last year. Not a panacea, some consolidation is inevitable. But the aim is to preserve the core capabilities that we have built up over the years by helping some M&OE companies to meet short-term cash flow needs, and secure new loans to continue to take up projects. We expect these two schemes to catalyse approximately $1.6 billion in loans over one year," Mr Iswaran cited, noting that levy hikes for work permit holders were deferred.

He also took note of the support to the construction sector, which has been weighed down by the property market slowdown and economic uncertainties.

"We are bringing forward $700million of public sector infrastructure projects to start in FY17 and FY18," he said.