ERC/MR/2025/2 18 February 2025 MEDIA RELEASE
SCCCI’S RESPONSE TO BUDGET 2025 In response to Budget 2025, SCCCI President Kho Choon Keng said, ”SCCCI welcomes the measures announced in this year’s Budget which reflect the government’s commitment to addressing both immediate and longer-term challenges faced by businesses and workers and focusing on the sustainable and long-term growth of our economy. The strategy on enterprise transformation, innovation and workforce upskilling is critical for Singapore to maintain its competitiveness as we navigate a rapidly evolving global landscape. We appreciate the measures to mitigate rising business costs, including the 50% Corporate Income Tax rebate, funding support for wage increases of lower-wage workers, and the extension of support schemes for internationalization and M&A. We applaud the new Private Credit Growth Fund which offers an alternative timely source of financing option for high-growth local enterprises. The strong emphasis on workforce upgrading and upskilling through enhanced training allowances, job re-design support, enterprise and workforce transformation is a significant step forward. Collectively, these measures will help businesses build a future-ready workforce capable of leveraging on emerging technologies in the new economy. We look forward to continued collaboration between the government and industry (through TACs) to close the skills gap, targeting especially our SMEs that still lag in workforce transformation. Building on recent progress, we will deepen collaboration with our trade association members to drive industry transformation and upgrading. With its strong fiscal position, we urge the government to enhance financing support for local TACs to develop business-focused training programs, accelerating SMEs’ adoption of leadership and workforce development. SCCCI’s Institute of Business stands ready to engage our 1