Singapore: ESR Committees Release Final Recommendations To Set Direction Of The Country’s Future Growth.

Singapore City; May 2026: After around nine months of deliberations, the Economic Strategy Review (ESR) committees today Wednesday, May 13th 2026, has released its final recommendations, with Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong stating that it is not simply a response to immediate challenges.

“It is about how Singapore positions itself for the longer term to stay competitive, create good jobs, and remain relevant in a more fragmented, contested and fast-changing world”, he said.

The 05 ESR committees, which have convened in August 2025, have submitted the 32 recommendations to the government following engagements and consultations with trade associations and chambers, unions, businesses and workers. More than 7,700 stakeholders participated in the process.

Speaking during the Singapore Business Federation’s Future Economy Conference, DyPM Gan said recent disruptions to energy markets, shipping routes, inflation and business confidence are not distant events for Singapore. “We are deeply connected to the global economy. That connectivity gives us opportunities, but it also exposes us to volatility”, he said. Because Singapore does not have a large domestic market, abundant land or natural resources, the country has never competed on size, said DyPM Gan, who is also Minister for Trade and Industry. “We cannot try to do everything”, he said.

Hence, the ESR asks a “fundamental” question of how Singapore should respond to the new global environment, he said. Gan Kim Yong chairs the Singapore Economic Resilience Taskforce, which oversaw the economic review. The report is expected to be ready by end-May.

In an executive summary of the full report, the committees set out the broad strokes for the direction that Singapore should take in order to secure future economic growth for Singapore while creating good jobs. It did so through three “imperatives” aimed at guiding how Singapore should respond to a changing world with growing geopolitical tensions, rapid advances in technology and other challenges.

“The challenges ahead are significant. But Singapore starts from a position of strength”, the summary said.

“The ESR’s recommendations will enable Singapore not only to withstand the changes around us, but also seize new opportunities and strengthen prospects for Singaporeans”. The recommendations come after Gan gave a mid-term update on the ESR in January this year, when he outlined seven proposals on how Singapore can navigate a volatile global environment and technological shifts. The latest recommendations build on the mid-term update, as well as the government’s responses during this year’s Budget and the subsequent debates on the ministries’ spending plans.

Economic Strategy Review: Final recommendations –

A total of 32 recommendations categorised into 8 “thrusts” to drive growth, jobs and resilience.

1. Build global leadership in areas of strength & take bold bets for future growth – 05 recommendations on extending Singapore’s lead in areas of strength and investing in new technologies.

• Make Singapore a global leader in AI solutions, and an AI-empowered economy – 03 recommendations to position Singapore as a trusted hub for AI solutions.

• Strengthen Singapore’s role as a connected and trusted hub – 04 recommendations on capturing new and emerging flows in the supply chain, and developing next-generation sea and air hubs.

• Foster a more dynamic enterprise ecosystem so that more Singapore based companies can start, scale and succeed globally – 04 recommendations on strengthening support for startups and helping firms to restructure and transition smoothly.

• Create more and a broader range of good jobs – 04 recommendations on shaping job creation and boosting attractiveness of jobs unlikely to be replaced by AI.

• Establish a stronger system for career transitions and worker support – 04 recommendations on earlier interventions for retrenchments and ways to support workers in at-risk roles.
• Empower workers to learn for life and take charge of their careers – 04 recommendations on investing in skills and deepening support for learning.

• Build economic resilience as a core capability – 04 recommendations on energy resilience and mitigating supply chain vulnerabilities.

THREE IMPERATIVES –

• The first imperative is for Singapore to sharpen its value proposition and focus on where it can create the most “hard-to-replicate” advantages. “Our strategy has always been to focus on areas that matter and to do them well,” said Gan. Singapore should continue to attract high-quality investments and frontier activities in sectors where there are strong foundations, such as advanced manufacturing, modern services, logistics, finance and technology.

• Second, Singapore should enhance its agility and adaptability as the pace of change accelerates. This will help the country reinvent itself. “In a world of rapid change, competitiveness will depend not only on the strengths we have today, but on how quickly we can respond, renew and redeploy,” said Gan. Firms must be able to seize new opportunities, workers must be able to acquire new skills, and capital and talent must move to more productive areas, he added.

• Third, Singapore has to build resilience along with efficiency because it will always be exposed to external shocks. Singapore’s role as a hub remains important, but must evolve, said Gan. “Our resilience must come from being competitive and connected, but connected in a more trusted, reliable and diversified way”, Gan further said.

To this end, the review committees said Singapore should secure economic growth through 04 “thrusts”, and create good jobs and opportunities through another 04 thrusts. The 32 recommendations are grouped within these 08 prongs. Each thrust has between three to five recommendations on the direction Singapore should take, and the government will work together with partners to translate the recommendations into action, the ESR secretariat said in a press release.

The first 04 thrusts on securing Singapore’s economic growth include a recommendation for Singapore to refresh its investment promotion approach to attract cutting-edge activities and capabilities. Singapore has built a position of global leadership in the semiconductor value chain, and should aim to do the same in other industries, according to the executive summary. Firms that are already here should also be supported to upgrade and transform so that they remain competitive even when costs rise.

“The aim is simple. We don’t want to just be in the supply chain. We want to be the part of the supply chain that nobody can afford to take out”, said Acting Minister for Transport and Senior Minister of State for Finance Jeffrey Siow at the same event. Siow co-chairs the ESR committee on global competitiveness.

On artificial intelligence, the review had three recommendations on positioning Singapore as a trusted hub for AI solutions.

Singapore cannot compete to build the biggest frontier AI model or host the largest AI data centres, but can bring the government, industry and research institutions together to create “the most enabling environment” for breakthrough innovation, the report said.

Singapore should develop leading firms as “Champions of AI” and accelerate AI adoption throughout the economy. Separately, beyond being a hub for physical goods, Singapore should move into activities such as supply chain management, global procurement, demand planning and standard-setting to govern and facilitate trusted flows.

Physical infrastructure alone is not a good enough differentiator anymore, said Siow, adding that the movement of goods, people, capital and data is increasingly shaped by security, resilience and trust. Next-generation air and sea hubs should integrate physical infrastructure with digital and AI-enabled systems, and Singapore should invest in specialised handling and logistics capabilities. “Even when the cargo no longer passes through Singapore physically, the decisions about that cargo can still be made here”, he said.

Strengthening data governance can also position Singapore as a trusted hub for data-driven economic activity. The enterprise ecosystem in Singapore should be nurtured to be more dynamic by expanding access to growth capital for startups, helping local companies expand internationally and supporting companies who may need to restructure or offshore parts of their business. The next generation of high-potential enterprises should also be supported, as new firms can scale quickly and disrupt incumbents.

“An economy is healthy not because firms never fail, but because new ones keep rising”, said Siow, adding that Singapore’s work is to make sure capital, talent and second chances keep flowing. He said Singapore has restructured its economy through recessions, financial crises, SARS and the global financial crisis.

“Each time, we studied the situation, we made the changes, we came out stronger”, he said during a ministerial dialogue at the Future Economy Conference. He added that “the storms of 2017 are the weather of 2026”, giving an analogy of a ship in rough weather. “Singapore’s answer has never been to wish for better weather. It has always been to build a better ship, for us to sail”, he said.

Hence, the ESR recommendations are the latest set of plans for such a ship, with the government, businesses, unions and workers needing to work together to build the ship and sail it, said Siow. “If we work together, Singapore can continue to grow, create good jobs, and remain competitive in a changed world”, he said.

Team Maverick.