Mr Goh said costs are always a factor but, generally, the government wants the standard of living to rise. 'And a higher standard of living means more income in real terms, in the real sense.'
To compete in a high-cost environment, he said Singapore would have to move into higher value-added industries like biomedical services and financial services, education and health. 'We cannot be doing things which we were doing before 1997, where China and India will become much more competitive.' While costs will always be important, Mr Goh said the government is not going to let them stop Singapore growing. '(We) just move into the right sector,' he said.
'It's a longer-term worry. It's not a short-term worry,' he said. 'For Singapore to grow, you need talent, talent from Singaporeans or within Singapore and talent from outside.'
