Committee on Future Economy

SINGAPORE: This country has over the years enjoyed sustained economic growth and successfully weathered many economic crises. Singapore's economy has become more diversified and people in the country today enjoy a very good quality of life. The approach taken by the Singapore government to ensure its economy remains vibrant is through the formation of special committees. Among these committees is the Committee on the Future Economy (CFE).

The function of this committee is to examine key areas and make recommendations to chart the course of the nation's future economic growth. The CFE is a 30-member committee made up of five Cabinet ministers and 25 other members from the private sector, and was formed in December 2015 by Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong. It is co-chaired by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat with Minister of Trade and Industry S. Iswaran, while the other ministers are Education Minister (Higher Education and Skills) Ong Ye Kung, Minister for National Development Lawrence Wong and Minister in the Prime Minister's Office Chan Chun Sing. The other members include leaders from different industries in both global and domestic markets, as well as large and small enterprises.

In its latest report on Feb 9, 2017, the CFE outlined seven strategies for the next decade to help the nation's economy grow in this current challenging global environment. Heng said there have been numerous technological breakthroughs which had brought significant changes to the global economy and these had posed a great challenge to the committee when it began working. “What the CFE aims to do is to set out the direction and broad strategy rather than a detailed roadmap, It is much harder to say with any certainty which sectors will do well. And the nature of the economy interactions are vast, complex and fast changing," he said.

The CFE has over the past year, held more than 80 discussions and focus groups and engaged more than 9,000 stakeholders. These included trade associations, public agencies, unions, companies, executives, workers, academicians, educators and students.

The seven strategies:

Committee on Future Economy