Monday Wrap: Fusion timelines, healthcare gaps, credit surge

Experts debate fusion's timeline as shifting healthcare, retail, and credit trends reframe the domestic outlook.

Last week in Singapore Business Review, experts offered sharply different timelines for when fusion energy could contribute to Singapore’s electricity supply as AI-driven growth raises power demand. Platform workers gained access to lower-cost healthcare through a new private-sector programme, whilst routine outpatient care remains outside statutory protections. Singapore’s buildings are increasingly combining different uses, retail growth slowed as shoppers became more cautious, and loan growth reached its fastest pace since 2014.

Singapore’s push to support AI-driven growth is putting fusion power in the spotlight, but experts disagree by decades on when the technology could contribute to the city-state’s electricity supply. MTI raised its 2026 growth forecast to 4.5% to 5.5% on 11 August, citing stronger global spending on AI. The stronger economy is expected to lift electricity demand, whilst Singapore relies almost entirely on imported fuel, has limited land for renewable energy and faces growing power needs from data centres.

The timeline for fusion remains uncertain. Industry projections point to possible commercial deployment in the mid-2030s, whilst independent analysis puts a meaningful role much further out, potentially beyond 2050. 

Focused Energy CEO Thomas Forner sees Singapore as a potential hub and off-taker, with a possible prototype plant in 2035, whilst NTU professor Xavier Garbet described deployment in the 2030s as ambitious and uncertain. Wood Mackenzie’s Prakash Sharma sees a meaningful opportunity only after 2050.

Singapore is also positioning itself in the sector. Commonwealth Fusion Systems signed a research agreement with A*STAR in May focused on technologies for commercial fusion power plants, whilst its CEO identified Singapore as a potential fusion hub. The experts, however, highlighted continuing challenges around technology, materials, regulation, supply chains and commercialisation.

For platform workers, the introduction of RiderCare by foodpanda and Singlife provides lower-cost access to healthcare, but does not change the coverage provided under the Platform Workers Act. The Act provides work injury protections, CPF contributions and representation rights, but routine outpatient medical care is not covered. Work injury protection applies to medical expenses and income losses linked to work accidents rather than unrelated illness or treatment.

MOM counted 71,600 regular platform workers in 2025, including 14,700 delivery workers. Meanwhile, WTW expects medical costs in Singapore to rise 16.9% in 2026, up from 15.5% last year. Singlife’s 2025 report found that 60% of platform workers cited healthcare costs as a concern, compared with 45% of non-platform workers.

Singapore’s buildings are also increasingly combining residential, healthcare, workplace, community and transport functions as projects seek to make better use of limited land. Siah Puay Lin, Singapore lead at SJ Group, said transport-oriented and mixed-use projects are changing how urban density is planned, with connected and walkable precincts integrating residential, healthcare, wellness and community uses.

Examples include Geneo at 1 and 7 Science Park Drive and Bulim Square, which are reworking industrial and business park formats with additional amenities. In healthcare, CPG’s Chung Yen Ling said demand is growing across acute hospitals, facility renewal, mental healthcare and community-based long-term care, with projects including Eastern General Hospital, NUH redevelopment and several care homes.

The rollout of CORENET X is also changing how projects are coordinated. The national building regulatory submission platform uses building information modelling, with mandatory adoption for projects of at least 30,000 square metres of gross floor area from October 2025 and upcoming projects from October 2026. Siah said BIM can improve coordination and reduce revisions during construction.

Retail sales rose 1.5% year on year in July, down from 4% in June, whilst seasonally adjusted sales increased 0.9% month on month. UOB attributed the weaker performance to cautious consumer sentiment amidst a softer labour market.

Retrenchments rose to 4,500 in the second quarter from 3,830 in the first quarter, whilst a Singapore National Employers Federation survey found 54% of employers did not expect to increase headcount in 2027. RHB expects retail momentum to moderate in the second half of the year, with full-year growth forecast at 3% and second-half growth at around 2% year on year.

Some categories continued to perform strongly. Recreational goods sales rose 13.9% in July, whilst watches and jewellery increased 11.1%. Department stores, however, recorded their sixth decline in seven months. RHB expects essentials to remain more resilient whilst discretionary categories face greater exposure to higher living costs and more cautious spending.

Singapore’s loans and advances rose 12.5% year on year in July, up from 11.7% in June and marking the fastest growth since 2014, according to MAS data. Nomura said corporate loan growth was broad-based at 13.4%, led by financial services and insurance, manufacturing, general commerce and transport.

Consumer loans rose 10.4%, driven by car loans, credit cards and share financing, whilst mortgages continued to improve. Nomura said financial conditions remained supportive of growth, although the credit gap had moved into territory comparable with previous periods of strong expansion.

Liquidity has also begun to tighten. The loan-to-deposit ratio rose to 70.3% in July from 67.7% at the end of 2025, whilst deposit growth slowed to 5.3% year on year from 7.6% in June. Nomura expects domestic rates to move higher alongside the maturing credit cycle and forecasts 2026 core inflation at 2.1%.