The Singapore government has contracted out 18 percent of the public sector's non-strategic services, saving about 35 million Singapore dollars (about 22.5 million U.S. dollars) of its annual operational costs.

The Finance Ministry said a total of 226 or 18 percent of the non-strategic functions were market-tested as of October this year and 158 functions have since been outsourced, according to a Channel NewsAsia report on Monday.

The ministry said these projects were worth 664.7 million Singapore dollars (about 428.8 million U.S. dollars), and the providers selected were those which could perform the functions most efficiently and effectively.

For example, the outsourced projects included the Manpower Ministry's call center operation, the People's Association's maintenance and cleaning services and the Health Sciences Authority's laboratory support services.

Sourcing out non-core services not only saves costs but also allows public agencies to focus more on their strategic functions, the ministry said.

Source: Xinhua