Foreign Worker Levies will be raised across the board for all sectors in 2014 & 2015.
For construction sector, will mandate the use of more manpower efficient designs and technologies. Levy rates for less skilled Work Permit Holders in Construction Sector will increase by $150 between Jul 2013 and Jul 2015.
Steeper levy increases of $300 for workers hired outside a company’s Man-Year Entitlement or MYE.
For service sector, existing workers, companies will be given until June 2015 to comply with the new DRCs. Government will reduce overall DRC from 45% to 40%, and lower S Pass Sub-DRC from 20% to 15%. Companies will not be allowed to bring in new foreign workers beyond the new DRCs from 1 July 2013.
To help the Services sector cope with labour constraints, Government will allow more flexible cross-deployment of foreign workers.
Government will tighten foreign workers inflow criteria for S Pass holders to moderate future growth and ensure ample opportunities remain for S'poreans.
From 1 Jul 2013, minimum S Pass qualifying monthly salary will be increased from $2k to $2.2k. Tiered salary system based on age and qualification will be introduced to level the playing field for S-Pass and local workers.
SINGAPORE: The Monetary Authority of Singapore is imposing restrictions on loans for private cars to safeguard against borrowers defaulting on their repayments.
Beginning on February 26, the central bank said consumers will be limited to borrowing 60 per cent of the purchase price of a motor vehicle when the open market value (OMV) is S$20,000 or less.
A tighter limit of 50 per cent will be imposed when the OMV is more than S$20,000.
The MAS is also capping the tenure of a motor vehicle loan at five years.
"The financing restrictions are necessary to encourage financial prudence among buyers," the MAS said in a statement.
"In this prolonged environment of very low interest rates, there is greater risk of buyers over—extending themselves," it said.