Singapore charts new course at National Day Rally 2025

The government has emphasised key focus areas in four sectors.

Singapore has laid out its strategies to fuel and support four key areas during the National Day Rally 2025.

According to RHB’s market outlook, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s speech focused on four areas, namely the economy, the next generation Singaporeans, the ageing population, and infrastructure.

For the economy, RHB noted that Singapore has put together an Economic Resilience Taskforce to secure trade deals and refresh long-term strategies.

“The Singapore government will focus on prioritising innovation and broad-based AI adoption. Highlighting the prior success in biomedical sciences, the government plans to invest in quantum computing, robotics, and automation with a focus on improving productivity,” the analysis said.

Some sectors highlighted were ports, airports, industry, and healthcare.

Singapore will also remain focused on job creation, with emphasis on new town-level job matching, expanded career fairs, and an enhanced SkillsFuture Level-Up scheme aimed at reskilling workers and supporting higher-value roles.

For younger citizens, Wong has outlined new measures to safeguard and empower young Singaporeans, focusing on health, digital resilience, and employment pathways.

This includes treating vaping as a drug issue, with stiffer penalties, rehabilitation programmes, and nationwide enforcement. It is also working towards controlling and reducing online harms through laws and digital literacy.

Amidst Singapore’s efforts to support its rapidly ageing population, the government has announced plans to build community care apartments.

“As part of a new initiative, the government will work towards Age Well Neighbourhoods, which
will be piloted in Toa Payoh and other towns. These will expand Active Ageing Centres, home-based services, and community healthcare touchpoints such as rehabilitation and nurse visits,” RHB noted.

For infrastructure, Singapore will continue to work on climate resilience projects, with the Pulau Tekong polder set for completion this year and major coastal defence works planned at Long Island and Changi Bay. It will also focus on improving the land use and rejuvenation of land areas in the northern part of the city-state.

“With a five-fold expansion of the checkpoint, the RTS Link opening by end-2026, new industrial spaces tied to the Johor–Singapore Special Economic Zone (SEZ), Woodland will see about 4,000 new Housing & Development Board (HDB) flats at 'Housing by the Woods' and waterfront housing developments,” RHB said.

Meanwhile, Kranji will see the 130-hectare former Turf Club transformed into a green, nature-integrated township with 14,000 homes and strong connectivity via a new MRT interchange. Sembawang Shipyard will be repurposed into a heritage-inspired waterfront destination with housing, retail, community, and lifestyle spaces.

“We believe these projects will generate sustained demand for construction, infrastructure, real estate development, and REITs, with spillover benefits for transport, retail, and cross-border logistics,” RHB said.