Singapore on Friday said it will spend billions of dollars more in areas such as healthcare and public transport but companies hoping to tap opportunities in some areas will have to do so with fewer foreign workers. "Our increasing dependence on foreign workers is not sustainable," Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman said in his budget speech for the fiscal year beginning April 1.
"A continued rapid infusion of foreign workers will also inevitably affect the Singaporean character of our society." "We must therefore take further measures to reduce the inflow of foreign workers, and help our businesses adapt to the permanent reality of a tight labour market," Tharman said. Measures to stem the rise in the number of foreigners in the city-state include lowering the maximum ratio of lower-skilled non-locals in the workforce to 60 percent for manufacturing companies, down from 65 percent currently.
For services firms, the cap that limits the number - known as "dependency ratio ceiling" - will be lowered to 45 percent from 50 percent. Singapore, a major Asian hub for banks and multinationals, is facing pressure from citizens to tighten immigration and cap the number of foreigners, who now make up one-third of the island's population of 5.2 million.
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