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Budget 2025: Is ‘something for everyone’ the right thing to do?
Subsidies are justifiable as corrections to market imperfections, but there are downsides to repeated “handouts”.
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There are downsides to relying on repeated “handouts” to deal with the cost of living, say the writers.
ST PHOTO: KUA CHEE SIONG
Linda Lim and Pang Eng Fong
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Commentators on Singapore’s Budget 2025 have rightly hailed it as “inclusive” and “generous”, with “something for everyone”, as expected from a pre-election Budget. As economists who have studied Singapore’s development for the past half-century, we consider how economics informs the Budget’s contribution to solving Singapore’s long-term development challenges.
The high cost of living affects all Singaporeans. Here the Budget delivers a range of vouchers, credits,
