A more nuanced approach to restructuring

Singapore

SINGAPORE will slow the pace at which it is squeezing foreign worker inflows, but the government made sure that this would not be mistaken for a U-turn on restructuring.

Even as Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam announced that foreign worker levy hikes earlier scheduled for this July would be pushed back a year - a move businesses have been hoping for - he stressed that this change in pace was not a change in direction.

"Our basic approach remains unchanged. We have to stay the course in reducing reliance on labour and especially unskilled foreign workers," Mr Tharman said in Parliament on Monday.

Business groupings, from the Singapore Business Federation to the Singapore International Chamber of Commerce (SICC) and the Singapore Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry, all voiced appreciation for the temporary reprieve from additional levies. Five years of levy hikes and quota cuts have meant mounting wage pressures on many companies, and costs continue to rise. Singapore's overall unit labour cost rose 3…