Foreign labour curbs too fast, too furious: survey

[SINGAPORE] Two-thirds of businesses polled by KPMG believe the pace of economic restructuring, and in particular, policies to tighten foreign labour inflows, has been "too fast and too furious".

And if findings from KPMG's Pre-Budget 2014 Survey Report are to be believed, companies' attempts to tackle immediate business concerns (such as rising business costs and the manpower crunch) are stymieing their efforts to innovate.

Said Tay Hong Beng, head of tax at KPMG in Singapore: "A lot of businesses are burdened by short-term concerns of costs and labour. And that has come at the expense of value-creation activities (which are) extremely important for businesses in Singapore.