Singapore Budget 2015: Levy increases for S Pass, Work Permit Holders, to be deferred

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The government will defer this year's round of announced levy increases for S Pass and Work Permit Holders in every sector, Tharman Shanmugaratnam, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, said on Monday.

"The significant slowdown we have seen in the last year gives us space to adjust the pace of our tightening measures," said Mr Tharman, referring to the slowdown in foreign workforce growth.

Mr Tharman said this will give companies, especially small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs), more time to adapt to the "new normal of a permanently tight labour market, where it is both difficult to find Singaporean employees, and foreign workers are no longer an easy solution".

"Let me affirm unequivocally that while we are adjusting the pace of our foreign worker measures, we are not changing direction," he said.

READ MORE: Govt to phase out Transition Support Package; Foreign worker levies' pace of increase to be refined; Subsidies for mid-career Singaporeans to be enhanced

INFOGRAPHIC: Snapshot of the Singapore economy; What Budget 2015 may bring