MTI to bolster initiatives for firms' overseas expansion

They will extend the Double Tax Deduction Scheme and launch the Grow Digital initiative.

Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing announced a number of scheme extensions and new initiatives that will further support firms that are looking to expand overseas.

The first of these is the extension of the enhanced 70% support under the Market Readiness Assistance (MRA) for another three years, till 31 March 2023. The grant cap will be raised to $100,000 per new market, per company over the enhancement period.

Chan added that they expanded the scope of eligible activities to include in-depth free-trade agreement (FTA) consultancy services and support for additional overseas business development activities such as the cost of deploying staff overseas.

Furthermore, they will also extend the Double Tax Deduction Scheme for Internationalisation (DTDi) for another five years, till 31 December 2025, which is said to encourage more Singapore companies to increase their market development and investment activities overseas. The enhancements will also cover new categories of expenses incurred for third party consultancy and overseas business missions.

Apart from these extensions, the government will launch the Grow Digital initiative under the SMEs Go Digital programme to help SMEs to grow their business overseas via both B2B and B2C digital channels. For a start, the programme will focus on China, India and Southeast Asia.

They will also work with the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) to launch the GlobalConnect@SBF in April. This will be an international advisory centre to provide dedicated market access support for companies new to internationalisation, with a focus on Southeast Asia and the emerging markets.

Lastly, Chan also promised that they will increase support levels for young Singaporeans under the Global Ready Talent (GRT) Programme so that more graduates can take on work opportunities abroad and gain exposure to Southeast Asia, China and India. This is expected to strengthen the pipeline of local talent to support businesses in expanding overseas in the medium to long term.