OVER the last five years, Singapore’s National Productivity Fund (NPF) has disbursed more than S$1 billion across 47 government projects related to productivity improvements and continuing education and training (CET), said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Low Yen Ling in Parliament on Thursday (Mar 2).

About half was spent on productivity projects and the other half on CET programmes, she said in response to Workers’ Party Member of Parliament Leon Perera, who had asked about NPF’s pattern of funding.

Larger NPF-funded projects include sector-specific schemes like the Construction Productivity and Capability Fund, and schemes that support enterprise and workforce transformation like the SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit scheme, she said. The NPF also supports the work of the 23 industry transformation maps.

Low clarified that the NPF is available to government ministries and agencies, which tap it for projects that will benefit trade associations and chambers (TACs) and industry sectors: “So actually, in a way, the TACs and companies are tapping on the fund as well.”

Asked by Perera if organisations could approach the NPF for funding, Low replied that companies can approach sector agencies or TACs which might be involved in productivity schemes.

The fund was established in 2010. In Budget 2023, a S$4 billion top-up was provided, and investment promotion was included as a supportable activity.

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Perera also asked if the NPF uses research to benchmark Singapore’s productivity against other countries, when deciding how much to fund each sector. To that, Low replied that sector agencies consider industry feedback, local and global best practices, and relevant benchmarking studies.

For instance, productivity benchmarking studies were commissioned on industry performance and efficiency in areas such as labour and space, here and overseas, when looking at how to improve productivity in the retail and food services sectors.