According to an industry survey, the compounded annual growth is estimated to be 2.6%.
That is lower than the average 7.9% pace across Asia Pacific economies.
But market watchers say the slower growth is due to the relative maturity of IT adoption in Singapore.
From intelligent classrooms to wireless hot spots, Singapore's public sector has been in the forefront of technology spending.
Such expenditure is forecast to increase from US$900 million this year to US$957 million in 2011.
But the figure is dwarfed by that seen for emerging economies like India, Indonesia, Vietnam and China.
China alone is expected to spend almost US$12 billion in five years' time, and Australia US$6.1b.
Raphael Phang, Director of Government Insights, said: "The largest IT spenders are actually Australia and China......from a Singapore perspective, the amounts we spend are considered moderate. But if you look at the population size of Australia and China, of course, the numbers get skewed because of the relatively small size of Singapore's population versus the expenditure."
Having already invested in hardware, Singapore will be spending more on software and IT services, including a key S$1.5 billion project for a standard operating infocomm system.
Raphael Phang said: "There is a movement towards consolidating the IT infrastructure as well as the services. So, some of the projects that the Singapore government has recently called for include common services.....where you find that the services or the systems that are provided for common functions - like the HR financial functions - are being developed for several statutory boards or ministries."
The standardisation and sharing of services and data may have resulted in cost savings, hence reduced spending.
What will continue to drive public sector IT spending in Singapore will be the demand for even better services from citizens who are more IT-savvy and who become increasingly accustomed to e-government services like the e-filing of taxes.
Autor(en)/Author(s): Yvonne Cheong
Quelle/Source: Channel NewsAsia, 12.07.2007
