Business torrents

Singapore said it will increase aid to its poorest citizens and boost wages of older workers as the government seeks to defray rising living costs and reduce dependency on foreign labor.

The government will cut the proportion of overseas workers that companies can hire and may consider increasing levies of foreign workers further, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said in his budget speech in Parliament today. Employers will be partly reimbursed for hiring older workers, and low-income and elderly households will receive cash and rebates yearly to limit the impact of the goods and services tax.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has signaled a shift toward addressing public discontent over rising prices and an influx of foreigners, after his ruling party suffered its smallest electoral win since independence in 1965. The government has previously taken steps to increase the cost of hiring overseas workers at hotels, factories and construction sites.