Pandemic has renewed push to future-proof Singapore

EVEN as policymakers around the world are moving to contain the economic fallout from the Covid-19 pandemic, farsighted ones are no doubt already latched on to the next most important question: what should we do to be better prepared for the future?

In Singapore, it is perhaps not farfetched to say that this is the question that has underpinned the Republic's economic success over the years, as policymakers here ruminate this question to near obsession. It's one of the reasons the country began its economic restructuring efforts in 2017, way ahead of the global health crisis that has exposed vulnerabilities around the world, as Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat has said.

In those three years, the government spared no effort to urge firms to plan ahead, transform and stay relevant, as traditional businesses faced digital disruption from new ones.