By SINGAPORE, Jan 20 Reuters Business investment commitments into Singapore rose 13 last year to their highest in more than a decade, helped by sectors such as semiconductors, energy and chemicals even as the citystate suffered its worst recession from the COVID19 pandemic.
Commitments for investments in fixed assets such as facilities, machinery and other equipment swelled to S17.2 billion 13 billion in 2020, well above a medium to longterm goal of S8 billion to S10 billion, data from the Economic Development Board EDB showed on Wednesday.
The figure is the highest since 2008. When the projects from these investments are fully implemented, they will create 19,352 new jobs in the coming years, the EDB said.
Commitments by total business expenditure, whose major components include wages and rental, fell 24 to S6.8 billion.
Still, Singapore bagged some major wins in 2020, with Chinas Tencent, Zoom Video Communications Inc and TikTok owner ByteDance planning major expansions in the citystate.
Commitments in 2020 are projected to directly contribute S31.2 billion annually to the economy with infocommunications and media industry, which includes technology firms, forming the biggest chunk at more than a third.
While 2020 has been a challenging year, some companies that took a longterm view continued to invest in Singapore, said Beh Swan Gin, chairman of the EDB.
Companies such as Alphabets Google and Microsoft , are continuing to hire staff.
Singapores economy is on the…
