EDB investment scheme

EDB investment scheme

SINGAPORE (AFP): The Economic Development Board (EDB) has stepped up co-investments with multinationals and local firms with a commitment of S$227.6 million (US$162 million) in 1996, officials said yesterday.

The EDB, tasked with attracting investments and encouraging pioneer ventures by sharing the risks with private companies, administers an investment pool of US$1.3 billion under the Cluster Development Fund program.

The 1996 investments account for nearly half the $483.4 million so far committed to 15 projects since the program was launched in 1993, according to an EDB statement.

The funds have been invested in Singapore projects as well as regional projects of Singapore-based companies, including multinationals, as part of the city-state's efforts to develop an external wing to its economy.

The 1996 investments in seven projects included commitments to co-invest in a plant here to be set up by Swiss group Lonza, an advanced semiconductor plant here with Hitachi Ltd. and Nippon Steel Corp. of Japan, and a semiconductor plant in southeastern China's Suzhou industrial park with Hitachi.