S'pore panel advises major busines moves

S'pore panel advises major busines moves

SINGAPORE (AFP): A high-level committee on Wednesday
recommended sweeping business cost-cutting moves worth an
estimated S$10 billion (US$6.06 billion) a year to help Singapore
ride out its recession.

The government-business Committee on Singapore's
Competitiveness (CSC), rejecting currency depreciation as an
instrument to spur growth, called for a 15 percent cut in total
wage costs as the centerpiece of its plan.

It also proposed basic strategies to boost Singapore's
competitiveness as a manufacturing, finance and business center
in the 21st century.

"We face intense competition," committee chairman Trade and
Industry Minister Lee Yock Suan said one day after government
economists declared the island technically in a recession after a
0.7 percent economic contraction in the third quarter.

"When the region recovers, our competitors will be leaner and
fitter," he told a news conference.

The committee also called for reductions in levies on foreign
workers, lower land and factory rental charges by government-
linked developers and managers of industrial parks, and cuts in
utility charges.

It also urged the government, which will announce its response
in a parliamentary debate later this month, to reduce or extend
rebates for corporate and personal income taxes in fiscal year
1999.

The proposed $10 billion in business costs savings would be
equivalent to about seven percent of Singapore's gross domestic
product.

The main element is a proposed reduction in employers'
contributions to the state-run pension fund.