The government will announce this coming year’s Budget on Feb 16, according to the Ministry of Finance on Dec 31.
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat notes that it has been a “tradition” to announce the date of the coming year’s Budget this time of the year.
“But this year has been far from traditional. Instead of an annual Budget, we had four Budgets and two Ministerial Statements. To support our workers, companies and households through Covid-19, we introduced several rounds of support measures,” said Heng, who wears another hat as the finance minister.
This past year, the government, via these four Budgets, had committed some $100 billion to combat the worsening economic crisis caused by pandemic. Singapore’s economy is seen to shrink by 6.5 and 6% this year, but is seen to rebound by 4 to 6% in 2021.
Heng, in a Facebook post, notes that while the pandemic is contained locally and vaccination is ongoing, the overall outlook remains highly uncertain and will be the case for some time to come.
“If the trajectory of economic recovery is on track, then we will have a more ‘traditional’ Budget year. But if the situation takes a turn for the worse, we are ready to respond and adapt,” he added.
