MAS is currently working with industry to unlock more investment flows into infrastructure via capital markets. This includes developing an infrastructure debt takeout facility to facilitate the transfer of infrastructure debt from banks to institutional investors. A group of banks and investors has agreed to conduct a “proof of concept” pilot transaction in September this year. In the promotion of FinTech, MAS has been updating its regulatory framework to ensure that it remains conducive to innovation while providing the necessary safeguards. We have proposed a regulatory sandbox for FIs and non-financial players to experiment with FinTech solutions while limiting the consequences of product failure. We have issued guidelines to enable start-ups and SMEs to more easily access securities-based crowd-funding. We will soon be issuing new guidelines which will provide clarity for FIs leveraging on cloud services to fulfil business and operational needs. Finally, the financial sector continues to create good jobs and build relevant skills. Last year, the financial services sector created a net total of 4,500 jobs. There is a compositional shift towards front office and higher value-added jobs. Demand for talent is strong in sectors such as asset and wealth management, corporate banking, and insurance. Demand is also strong in compliance roles, and technology related fields like cyber security and application development. But there is consolidation in back office jobs, such as roles in lower-skilled IT infrastructure management, operations, and support. Under the national SkillsFuture programme, MAS introduced new initiatives last year to help finance professionals deepen their expertise and acquire new cross-functional capabilities.

Looking ahead, the transition to a greener economy will entail a sharp reduction in aggregate energy dependence, from around 60% today to 10% in 2050 in a zero-emissions scenario. However, this same policy, as well as the digitalisation of the economy, will increase the EU's need to import so-called “critical raw materials”. These materials (such as rare earths, palladium or cobalt) are considered critical by the European Commission due to their economic importance, the difficulty in replacing them with other materials, the high import concentration and other supply-related risks. 5 For example, China controls about half of global rare earths mining capacity and 85% of the refining capacity. Russia is the EU’s main supplier of these raw materials (accounting for 18% of the total value of such imports in 2019). According to the European Commission, the demand for some of these critical raw materials could increase more than fivefold by 2030, which will cause the EU's external dependencies in this field to increase dramatically in the near future. A second vulnerability concerns export concentration. This is a key aspect for the European economy, which has historically maintained a strong trade surplus, and whose exports have compensated some of the recent large terms of trade loss stemming from high energy prices. In this regard, EU exports of various pharmaceutical and chemical products and some high-tech manufacturing goods are highly concentrated in the US and the UK, and are also characterised by relatively low domestic demand.