{"id":415924,"date":"2026-01-17T19:40:11","date_gmt":"2026-01-17T19:40:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/415924\/"},"modified":"2026-01-17T19:40:11","modified_gmt":"2026-01-17T19:40:11","slug":"government-to-continue-helping-singaporeans-upgrade-themselves-to-be-more-competitive-sm-lee","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/415924\/","title":{"rendered":"Government to continue helping Singaporeans upgrade themselves to be more competitive: SM Lee"},"content":{"rendered":"

SINGAPORE: The government will develop programmes – some of which will be announced in the upcoming Budget – to support individuals and businesses in upskilling and adapting to a troubled world, said Senior Minister Lee Hsien Loong on Saturday (Jan 17).<\/p>\n

Speaking at the Teck Ghee Edusave Awards ceremony in Teck Ghee Primary School, Mr Lee said Singaporeans should continue to upgrade themselves, including learning new skills in artificial intelligence, to “stay useful, stay valued, be able to make a contribution and look after ourselves in life”.<\/p>\n

Companies will also have to adapt to a changing world by transforming and reinventing themselves to stay competitive and continue providing good jobs for Singaporeans, he added.<\/p>\n

These are important against the backdrop of an uncertain world, said SM Lee, citing examples such as US-China trade tensions and other imbalances in world trade.<\/p>\n

“But we are all in this together. So the government will do our part developing programmes to support individuals and businesses, to make Singapore more competitive,” he said.<\/p>\n

Mr Lee added that the government has the resources to do this and will continue to do so, including in the 2026 Budget to be delivered on Feb 12<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Addressing students at the ceremony, he said the government will continue to invest in young people to prepare them for opportunities and challenges.<\/p>\n

“We want you to grow up with the skills you will need. But at the same time, we want you to grow up a good person, making a contribution to society and to Singapore.”<\/p>\n

Mr Lee noted that Singapore is in a “good position in a troubled world”, amid issues such as the Thailand-Cambodia conflict, among others.\u00a0<\/p>\n

He highlighted Singapore’s economic growth of nearly 5 per cent, the rise in incomes and lower inflation.<\/p>\n

“We are stable, we are predictable, we are secure, and we are reliable. So we stand out and we become a good place to do business, and a desirable partner,” said Mr Lee.<\/p>\n

He added that Singapore “can look forward to this year and to the future with confidence”.<\/p>\n

“But if you ask me what surprises we can expect this year – I do not know what
surprises can come because the world is still in flux.”<\/p>\n

Global trade imbalances, for instance, mean that other countries are likely to take measures to protect their domestic industries by enacting tariffs and import barriers.\u00a0<\/p>\n

This will hurt Singapore as it will affect the country’s exports and economic growth, he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

“Therefore, we must not think that just because last year was okay, our problems have gone away. We must take this very, very seriously.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SINGAPORE: The government will develop programmes – some of which will be announced in the upcoming Budget –…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":415925,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[45,49,48,46,174729,174728,174730],"class_list":{"0":"post-415924","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-business","9":"tag-ca","10":"tag-canada","11":"tag-economy","12":"tag-edusave","13":"tag-lee-hsien-loong","14":"tag-upskilling-programmes"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415924","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=415924"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/415924\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/415925"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=415924"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=415924"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=415924"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}