Singapore unveils fourth stimulus budget of US$23.2 billion to save jobs
- Total injections to shore up the city state’s coronavirus-battered economy will now amount to US$65.4 billion
- Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat described the so-called Fortitude Budget as ‘a necessary response to an unprecedented crisis’
Economists and market watchers had expected the fourth round of measures to have amounted to no more than S$10 billion, and had viewed today’s announcement as an extension to the over S$60 billion of measures that Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s government had rolled out in three phases since February.
The new plan detailed in Parliament on Tuesday by Lee’s deputy Heng Swee Keat – also the finance minister – upended those projections. With the latest so-called Fortitude Budget, the country’s total stimulus now stands at S$92.9 billion, which amounts to 19.2 per cent of GDP.
“This is a landmark package, and a necessary response to an unprecedented crisis,” said Heng.
“The central focus of this budget is jobs. This budget will continue to support workers and businesses who remain affected by border closures and safe distancing measures,” Heng, the presumptive successor to Prime Minister Lee, told lawmakers.