And while that represents a 37 per cent drop from 2020’s investment commitment of S$17.2 billion, the statutory board’s managing director, Ms Jacqueline Poh, said on Wednesday that it is still on par with the five-year annual average prior to 2020. The EDB's medium- to long-term target is S$8 billion to S$10 billion a year.
Ms Poh said that 2021’s results were a testament to Singapore’s reputation as a “stable, reliable and neutral strategic location”. Among the top three industries which are expected to benefit from these job creations are: Headquarters and professional services , research and development and biomedical manufacturing .EDB said that the digital economy had “contributed significantly” to last year’s total business expenditure, as digitalisation had picked up pace across all sectors.
And as companies and industries become used to the idea of digitalisation being part of their business, Ms Poh said she also expects to see “a lot of growth in the digital economy”.“I think we are going to watch that space in the years to come to see which companies emerge from that, providing decarbonisation solutions, carbon services, circular economy solutions, and more high tech advancements in the fields of carbon capture or hydrogen economy.
He said this has “dampened the ability for companies to think about expanding their offices and their regional headquarters” in Singapore. As for its target for the number of expected jobs, it has been set between 16,000 and 18,000. The expected value-added a year is between S$12 billion and S$14 billion.