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Leaders from NTUC, AMD, Nourish Ingredients, Dell, and more organisations on how initiatives aimed at skills development, business growth, and inclusivity, will benefit companies.
On 18 February 2025 (Tuesday), Singapore's Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Lawrence Wong, delivered the Budget 2025 statement in Parliament. This year's budget focuses on managing cost pressures, driving economic growth, upskilling workers, building a sustainable city, fostering inclusivity, and strengthening national cohesion.
PM Wong mentioned: "It is a budget for the future, tackling immediate challenges while laying the groundwork for a stronger more resilient tomorrow. It is a budget for all Singaporeans because when Singapore thrives, every citizen benefits.
"Every Singaporean is supported from birth to all ages with more support given to those with less."
Some of the highlights from Budget 2025 are as follows:
- 50% corporate tax rebate for companies that employed at least one local employee in 2024.
- S$3bn top-up to the National Productivity Fund and $1bn investment in research and development infrastructure.
- Up to S$150mn for the Enterprise Compute Initiative to support digital transformation.
- $300 monthly training allowance from 2026 under the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme.
- SkillsFuture Workforce Development Grant covering up to 70% of job redesign.
In light of the Budget 2025 announcement, HRO has compiled a list of commentaries (excerpts only) from HR and industry leaders who share their views on how the new initiatives announced will aid organisations and workers.
Read the commentaries below.
Ng Chee Meng, Secretary-General, National Trades Union Congress (NTUC)
"NTUC welcomes today’s Budget announcements, which will support workers through future challenges and create more opportunities as Singapore enters our next phase of growth.
"Among the key initiatives, the top-up to NTUC’s Company Training Committee (CTC) Grant is a major boost—enabling more companies to accelerate workforce transformation while helping workers secure better wages, jobs, and career prospects."
"Beyond the CTC Grant, the Budget also brings positive news for senior workers and lower-wage workers—groups we have consistently championed," he adds.
"At NTUC, we will continue working closely with the Government and businesses to drive workforce transformation, protect workers' interests, and build a better future for all."
Simon Lee, Senior Vice President and Managing Director of Asia-Pacific and Japan, New Relic
"The Enterprise Compute Initiative in the Singapore Budget is highly welcome, as it will further advance the nation’s vision to become the driver of global AI collaboration and development as outlined in National AI Strategy 2.0. Singapore’s strong interest in emerging technologies puts the nation in good stead with practices like observability.
Lee further explains: "The expansion of the SkillsFuture Enterprise scheme will help equip organisations to better address the persistent shortage of seasoned IT professionals in the region. While the hunt for talent continues, it is crucial for businesses to harness the power of existing teams by investing in training, encouraging knowledge-sharing sessions, and embracing the unique strengths each member brings to the table.
"As we look forward to scale new frontiers of growth, staying agile and informed is the key to being successful in this ever-evolving digital realm. However, it's not just about the tools–it’s also about mindset. By fostering a culture of continuous learning, adaptation, and collaboration, we can chart our course beyond SG60, ensuring our people and businesses aren’t just resilient but thrive in the face of challenges."
Ben Goodman, Senior Vice President and General Manager, Asia Pacific & Japan, Okta
"Identity-based attacks have become a critical security vulnerability, with threat actors employing sophisticated phishing tactics and compromised credentials to breach organisations. Globally, eight out of 10 cyber breaches involve identity. The magnitude of this threat is particularly evident in the APAC region compared to our Western counterparts."
"With the fast-evolving nature of the global business environment and the critical role Singapore plays, the increased risk of cyber threats across both the public and private sector are hitting unprecedented levels. The continued investments towards AI and digital transformation outlines how seriously Singapore takes these risks and the need to be proactive in protecting the people and businesses of the country."
Heng Chee How, Deputy Secretary-General, NTUC
"This year’s Budget by Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong included important measures for our older workers.
"He announced the formation of the Tripartite Workgroup on Senior Employment. This is key because we must build on previous efforts and look further ahead strategically to address both challenges and opportunities for our older workforce in a troubled global geo-political environment."
"At the same time," DSG Heng notes, "the further improvement of CPF contribution rates for older workers as agreed by the tripartite partners will boost retirement adequacy.
He adds: "The extension of the Senior Employment Credit till end-2026 is most welcome. It helps businesses defray part of their hiring costs for older workers. That should make older workers more attractive to hire."
Fabio Tiviti, Group Vice President, APAC & Japan Field Operations, Workday
"Artificial intelligence (AI) will continue to be a key driver in nurturing Singapore’s competitive advantage. Such technologies are catalysts for economic growth and business productivity setting the stage for Singapore to strengthen its position as a global hub for innovation. The new Enterprise Compute Initiative will therefore play an integral role in enabling businesses with the capabilities to swiftly make the relevant pivots and integrate AI into the various business processes and systems."
Fabio adds: "To support workplace transformation, the government’s ongoing commitment to upskilling measures with the SkillsFuture enhancements will empower individuals to upgrade their skills while staying employed. This approach will help build a future-ready workforce equipped with relevant expertise, strengthening the overall competitiveness of the job market."
Gayathri Peria, General Manager for Southeast Asia, SUSE
"Singapore’s Budget 2025 underscores a strong commitment to strengthening the nation’s technology innovation credentials, with new initiatives that enable businesses to scale and continually compete on the global stage. Technology organisations can help steward the way, and we are heartened by the collaboration that is already happening between public and private sectors here in the Little Red Dot."
Gayatri continues: "Among the new announcements, the Enterprise Compute Initiative stands out as a game-changer, reinforcing enterprises with critical AI tools, computing power, and expert consultancy capabilities via partnerships with major cloud service providers. The government’s investment in AI infrastructure is commendable, and pairing it with open-source AI’s rich ecosystem of tools and frameworks allows businesses to tailor solutions without the burden of proprietary software costs.
This empowers businesses to leverage AI more effectively in the age of Smart Nation 2.0. By working with cloud service providers to support businesses with the necessary access and resources, Singapore can position itself to continually drive productivity and growth."
Patrick Tay, Assistant Secretary-General, NTUC
"I would like to summarise the Budget into what I call the 3Cs: 'Coping with cost of living'; 'Caring for all' with a focus on various impt (sic) segments such as seniors, families, PWDs, and ex-offenders including students; and 'catalysing company training & transformation'.
"[I] can see [the] Government’s strong support for businesses to keep our economy vibrant; and extensive help to uplift Singaporean workers of all ages and collars towards CET and Lifelong Learning. Nice to hear of [the] Government’s move to nurture a pipeline of Singaporean leaders in the corporate sector to further strengthen our Singaporean Core and beef up our local bench strength."
He continues: "[I] recall making this call during the joint NTUC-SNEF PME Taskforce and am glad to see this response. The additional S$200mn top up for NTUC’s Company Training Committee (CTC) Grant in helping companies and workers transform is a big welcome and I urge more companies to double down step to form CTCs with our unions and tap on the CTC Grant to implement business transformation plans and train/upskill their employees."
Suvig Sharma, Area Vice President (ASEAN), Confluent
"PM Wong’s S$150mn budget for the Enterprise Compute Initiative, which supports businesses to harness AI effectively around processes and systems, underscores the need to stay ahead of disruptive technologies. One of the key processes for AI is data management — the effectiveness of AI is deeply dependent on having clean and up-to-date data — similar to building better health by choosing fresh, wholesome foods marked with Singapore’s Healthier Choice symbol. High-quality data is what drives accurate insights and better business decisions. With data volumes growing daily and demand for real-time responses increasing, data streaming platforms will play a crucial role in powering AI applications with trustworthy, fresh data to deliver relevant results without hallucinations. To fully leverage these emerging technologies, companies need a skilled workforce."
"The new SkillsFuture Workforce Development Grant will be of tremendous help, helping businesses train their employees while adapting their workforce structures to new demands. As roles like data streaming engineers become more essential, companies will need support to prepare their workforce to respond to these evolving fields."
[ALSO READ: Singapore Budget 2025: Highlights for employers and HR leaders]
Andy Sim, Vice President and Managing Director, Singapore, Dell Technologies
"As outlined in NAIS 2.0, Singapore aspires to become a global leader in 'choice AI areas that are economically impactful and serve the public good'. We’re seeing Singapore’s ambitions starting to take flight with the growing presence of leading AI companies setting up offices here."
"Singapore is going full throttle on AI initiatives to future-proof its workforce. The private sector needs to grow in tandem with Singapore’s national aspirations. At Dell Technologies, our APJ AI Innovation Hub aims to advance Singapore’s AI ecosystem by fostering a solutions network – facilitating collaboration between customers and partners to create, test and validate tech solutions that can power AI adoption out from Singapore for Asia and beyond."
He adds: "Enablement is also key – partnering with Institutions of Higher Learning in Singapore to deliver in-demand AI skills, we empower partners, customers and future tech talent to seize the opportunities that AI brings."
Peter Chambers, Managing Director, Asia Pacific, AMD
"It would be prudent for business leaders to view today’s announcements as temporary relief and use this opportunity to focus on fostering the local talent ecosystem while addressing organisational challenges to ensure the longevity of their companies in today’s AI-powered landscape."
He details the following:
Industry partnership
"Local educational institutions are invaluable partners that more companies in Singapore should recognise. The education sector is the cornerstone of innovation across industries—not only offering higher education programmes for employee upskilling but also serving as the first point of exposure to the industry for future talent, directly influencing the success of the local sector.
"Enterprises would therefore benefit from adopting a more proactive stance in engaging with institutions to initiate partnership discussions. The key objectives of any collaboration need to be twofold: (i) to encourage higher enrolment among students, expanding the talent pool, and (ii) to provide students with greater real-world exposure throughout their studies, enhancing their industry readiness.
"By leveraging companies’ real-world expertise alongside institutions’ wealth of knowledge and connections, both parties can jointly develop effective programmes that accelerate the growth of the talent ecosystem."
Organisational challenges
"The broad range of AI applications within organisations requires engagement with diverse stakeholders to ensure their needs are met. Enterprises should consider adopting a highly structured decision-making approach that formally expands the range of individuals consulted or included in digital steering committees.
"This would help mitigate significant delays in planning processes—delays that further exacerbate the gap between AI demand and an organisation’s capacity to support these workloads."
Marion Ang, Co-Founder and Chief People Officer, TriOn & Co
"This year’s Budget has shown an emphasis on strengthening our workforce, building resilient businesses and supporting families and parents. As a young and growing SME, we are encouraged by the enhanced measures supporting individuals looking to upgrade their skills while they are employed such as a top-up to the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme for mid-career workers and an extension of the programme to include part time courses."
She notes: "In today’s fast evolving economy, training and development is crucial to ensure that employees are equipped with the relevant skills and knowledge to thrive in the workplace. For small enterprises like ourselves, we appreciate the SkillsFuture Workforce Development Grant and SkillsFuture Enterprise Credit that allows us to explore programmes for employees to enhance their capabilities or for business transformation initiatives to be more productive."
"Lastly, financial benefits and support for families with children such as Shared Parental Leave and Large Families Scheme will encourage businesses to shift towards flexible working arrangements. We fully support such initiatives that will help working adults to gain flexibility to achieve their personal and professional aspirations."
Ang concludes by sharing: "As a progressive employer, we already have policies in place to support employees in this way, and we are happy to see that the Government is also moving in this direction."
Dr James Petrie, CEO, Nourish Ingredients
"Singapore’s 2025 Budget reaffirms its commitment to sustainability despite global climate slowdowns and economic challenges. Strengthening food security and carbon emission targets is a decisive step toward the nation's 2050 net-zero goal.
"For food tech startups facing funding setbacks, continued government support remains critical to Singapore’s position as a global food innovation hub."
Dr James emphasises: "Enhanced backing for innovation, particularly in precision fermentation and specialty ingredients for alternative proteins and traditional supply chains, will accelerate commercialisation as the country pursues its “30 by 30” food security target.
"Singapore’s continued investment in food innovation reinforces the vital role of tech-driven solutions in building a smarter and more sustainable food system."
Lead image / MDDI Photo by Terence Tan (Taken from PM Wong's Facebook)
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