Singapore unveils eye-catching US$33.7 billion stimulus to fight coronavirus and save jobs as recession looms
- After a first package of stimulus measures announced in February’s budget, the island nation’s fiscal boost now stands at US$38.6 billion
- Under a revamped jobs support scheme, the government will now offset up to 25 per cent of wages, capped at US$3,225 per worker, for nine months
The move is the most aggressive response yet by an Asian government to the pandemic, which has brought economic activity to a near standstill as nearly a third of humanity is currently in some form of lockdown as authorities scramble to minimise fatalities.
“Today, I will introduce measures worth over S$48 billion in this ‘Resilience Budget’, to deal decisively with the situation at hand,” Deputy Prime Minister and finance minister Heng Swee Keat said in an address to lawmakers in parliament. “This is a landmark package, and a necessary response to a unique situation.”
The unprecedented drawdown of S$17 billion from the national reserves has been granted “in-principle” approval by President Halimah Yacob, said Heng, who is slated to succeed Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong some time after the general election that is expected to be called in the coming months.
Heng acknowledged that the scale of the crisis meant a sizeable number of Singaporeans would lose their jobs or have their incomes significantly reduced. “In economic terms alone, this will likely be the worst economic contraction since independence,” he said.
Signalling the gravity of the situation, Heng said all cabinet ministers as well as political office holders – such as Halimah, the speaker of parliament and the deputy speakers – would take a three-month pay cut, up from the one-month wage reduction they pledged to undertake earlier in the year.
