SMU School of Economics Associate Dean (Faculty, Research) and Professor of Economics Hoon Hian Teck shared his views on the upcoming Budget, which will be unveiled on March 24. On the subject of funding higher social spending, Prof Hoon noted that this is coming at a time when much of Singapore’s past growth formula has been exhausted and the country has to depend on new sources of growth. “The earlier phase of gross domestic product growth came from Singapore being a technology follower and as a result, jobs were created, earnings went up so the tax base went up. We are now at a phase where (this model) has pretty much been exhausted, we now have to focus on new sources of growth, which primarily will have to come from our small and medium-sized enterprises becoming more efficient in the way they do things, their ability to expand into overseas markets,” he said.
