\u201cDemography is a huge constraint for us. Our population is ageing very quickly, our total fertility rate (TFR) is dismal, and we have to integrate whoever comes into Singapore better,\u201d Jeffrey Siow, Singapore\u2019s minister for transport.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt the same time, the cost structure of the economy is also going up, (and) I think the biggest constraint going forward for us will be energy,\u201d said Siow. He was speaking at a keynote dialogue at the 18th Asean & Asia Forum organised by the Singapore Institute of International Affairs on Monday (Aug 3).\u00a0The Business Times is the official media partner of the event.<\/p>\n
Siow, who is also Singapore\u2019s second minister for finance, explained that the government is already aware of many of these challenges, and that they have also been highlighted in the<\/a> government\u2019s Economic Strategy Review.\u00a0<\/p>\n Identifying these constraints allows Singapore to focus capital where it matters. For instance, a smaller Singapore population means an opportunity to invest more per person in terms of training or reskilling.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cHelp companies, incentivise them to retrain Singaporeans and prioritise those efforts. That is not something many cities or countries can do,\u201d Siow said. The Republic already has a SkillsFuture programme where Singaporeans receive monetary credits to attend training courses. Siow added that Singapore \u201ccan do more in that aspect\u201d.\u00a0<\/p>\n There are, however, limits to what Singapore can do on the energy front. Even if the country was \u201cplastered\u201d with solar panels,\u00a0Singapore may not even be able to cover 10 per cent of its energy needs, he noted.<\/p>\n There are also global events that are beyond the city-state\u2019s control that put further strains on energy demand, such as the Iran conflict. The Strait of Hormuz, which carries about 20 per cent of global oil and liquified natural gas, has remained effectively blocked since the start of the conflict in late February.\u00a0<\/p>\n SEE ALSO<\/p>\n What Singapore is trying to do is diversify its sources of energy, including exploring nuclear energy.<\/p>\n In an era where supply chains can be significantly negatively affected by geopolitical events, port operator PSA\u2019s global network was highlighted by Siow as an example of turning constraints into a position of strength.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWe (PSA) have a very big network of ports around the world and where there are services that are disrupted in one area, PSA has the ability to orchestrate the movement of ships and containers to its own ports. We want to do more of that,\u201d Siow said.<\/p>\n Siow added that he is also encouraging PSA to increase its ability to reroute shipments. It is part of a larger drive for Singapore to be at the centre of how trade flows are orchestrated, as being agile and competitive means being able to ride out shocks better.\u00a0<\/p>\n PSA has grown together with Singapore\u2019s economy to become a global port operator and is now present in 45 countries.\u00a0<\/p>\n In a panel discussion following Siow\u2019s keynote dialogue, PSA Singapore\u2019s vice-president of port ecosystem development, Foo Cexiang, said the operator has been trying to \u201cstrengthen\u201d its value proposition to customers, not only through its Singapore operations but its global network.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you face supply chain disruptions, that ability for your supply chain orchestrator to swim the goods from port to port to reach your end destinations in time, I think that will be a strong value proposition,\u201d Foo said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Foo noted that despite a seemingly fragmented world, container volumes have been increasing along with trade from certain regions such as Africa to Asia, and that PSA plays a big part in these regions.\u00a0<\/p>\n The other two panellists \u2013 Claus Rettig, president of Asia-Pacific for Evonik; and Wendy Cheong, managing director and regional head of Asia-Pacific at Moody\u2019s Ratings \u2013 elaborated that Singapore can leverage several assets it has, such as its stability, market credibility and deep financial markets.<\/p>\n Rettig explained that Singapore is the German speciality chemical company\u2019s Asia headquarters even though the city-state does not offer sufficient scale. Yet what the country offers is its connectivity and the ability to serve as the hub to manage operations in the rest of South-east Asia to India.\u00a0<\/p>\n Cheong noted that Singapore\u2019s \u201ctriple A\u201d rating from Moody\u2019s \u2013 the rating agency\u2019s top rating \u2013 is the highest in South-east Asia. That is a plus for Singapore to attract companies to anchor operations in the city-state and use it as a base to connect with the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n One point that panellists discussed that looks past Singapore\u2019s constraints and leverages its assets could potentially be to serve as a regional food hub.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cIf you look at Asean, we (Singapore) are very advanced in terms of food manufacturing. Thailand, for example, is at the forefront of food manufacturing processing as well, so can Singapore play a role as a gateway for Asean to the world,\u201d Foo said. He added that this will also increase the amount of intra-Asean trade, which stagnated in recent years.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Transport Minister Jeffrey Siow explains how the country can ride the challenges of energy scarcity and demographic headwinds…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":581518,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,113,61,60,9458,135538],"class_list":["post-581517","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-singapore","tag-south-east-asia"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581517","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=581517"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/581517\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/581518"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=581517"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=581517"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=581517"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1785749900_892_d808c3597fe99e734892af6ea8fd95a9b99e80b0ece385c6f0e7c3e3ae7a23a9.webp\")
<\/a>![\"While](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/1785749901_899_3212d23c30fe8e5683b73df2f0c12679ea376f5bc1de2cc36d39d1e0c9f51cb2.webp\")
<\/a><\/p>\n![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/bd4c2a8e8138bb9b913c04581d6fd9e79f13bde4d3c72d6f8d652dbe80190e17.webp\")
Speaking at the 18th Asean & Asia Forum are: (on screen) Wendy Cheong, managing director and regional head of Apac, Moody\u2019s Ratings; (on stage, from left) Foo Cexiang, vice-president of port ecosystem development, PSA Singapore; Claus Rettig, Apac president, Evonik; and Satya Ramamurthy, chair, public sector, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Asia Pacific and Singapore Institute of International Affairs council member. PHOTO: TAY CHU YI, BT <\/p>\n