12 Budgets over the past 5 years: From tackling the Covid-19 pandemic to charting the future
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Leader of the House Indranee Rajah in a speech on March 10 summed up the past five years and reflected on measures taken.
PHOTO: MDDI
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SINGAPORE – Over the past five years, Singapore passed an unprecedented 12 Budgets, including five in 2020 as the Republic sought to deal with the Covid-19 pandemic and chart a new way forward.
Leader of the House Indranee Rajah in a speech on March 10 summed up the past five years and reflected on measures taken.
She noted that this will be the last Budget passed by the current Parliament,
“So much has happened that I thought it would be appropriate to do a look back and consider what this House has – by approving the unprecedented number of Budgets brought before it – enabled us to achieve in this 14th Parliament,” said Ms Indranee, who is Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and National Development.
The Straits Times looks back at the Budgets passed between 2020 and 2025, which included supplementary budgets and ministerial statements on support measures during the pandemic years.
Five Covid-19 Budgets in 2020, three more in 2021
Ms Indranee called these years the “dark and bleak” start to the 14th Parliament,
The Government rolled out several Budgets
Singapore ended the 2019 financial year with an overall deficit of $1.7 billion, and its 2020 Budget estimated a deficit of $10.9 billion
The Government drew up to $52 billion from past reserves
Measures included a $6.6 billion Assurance Package
Companies also received support to defray wage costs. Two schemes – the new Jobs Support Scheme and the enhanced Wage Credit Scheme – were rolled out to support enterprises and also help workers stay employed as part of a larger $4 billion Stabilisation and Support Package.
Named Emerging Stronger Together, Budget 2021 dipped into the reserves for the second straight year as efforts to cushion the pandemic’s effects continued.
The $107 billion plan
It was followed by two additional rounds of support measures in July that year.
Aside from tackling the pandemic, Deputy Prime Minister and then Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat pledged to allocate $24 billion across the next three years to enable Singapore’s firms and workers to emerge stronger from the crisis.
2022-2023: Emerging from the pandemic into an unstable world
As the country emerged from the pandemic in 2022, battered but generally safe and ready to embark on its plans for reopening, it encountered global troubles such as the war in Ukraine,
“We were confronted with the twin challenges of having to take care of Singaporeans’ immediate concerns in the new inflationary environment not seen since the global financial crisis in 2008, while at the same time having to chart a new way forward for the longer term,” said Ms Indranee.
In 2022, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong topped up the Assurance Package to the tune of $640 million to help Singaporeans cope with the rising goods and services tax, which would increase by 1 percentage point in 2023 and 2024. He also announced a $560 million Household Support Package.
In 2023, he again topped up the Assurance Package to $9.6 billion,
He noted that long wait times for new flats and rising resale home prices were key concerns for many young Singaporeans, and parents had also called for help to better balance work and family commitments.
He added that to achieve shared aspirations of a fairer and more inclusive society, the Government was pursuing new strategies in some key areas – uplifting lower-wage worker salaries, better support for reskilling and upskilling, giving everyone opportunities throughout their lives to uplift themselves, and better care for the growing number of seniors.
2024-2025: Singapore in transition and SG60
The Budgets in 2024 and 2025 “breathed life into the ideas co-created with Singaporeans in the Forward Singapore road map”,
These included making public housing more affordable and accessible, helping Singaporeans bounce back from career setbacks, and pressing on with the nation’s green transition, she noted.
In 2024, the Government made significant investments in upskilling Singaporeans for the future, while continuing to pump money into cushioning pressures on the cost of living.
Prime Minister Wong, who was deputy prime minister then, also boosted the Assurance Package again, by another $1.9 billion.
This included an additional $600 in CDC vouchers each for all Singaporean households.
The Budget also introduced a suite of measures targeted at mid-career workers to retool for the future.
All Singaporeans aged 40 and above were given a $4,000 top-up in SkillsFuture Credit
Budget 2025 celebrated Singapore’s 60th year of independence and laid out the second instalment of plans on the Forward Singapore agenda.
PM Wong announced a new SG60 package
In July, all Singaporeans aged 21 to 59 will receive $600 in SG60 vouchers,
The 2025 Budget came ahead of a general election widely expected by mid-year, and tackled top-of-mind issues for Singaporeans, such as cost-of-living pressures and job insecurity.
To alleviate rising costs, PM Wong announced another $800 in CDC vouchers for all Singaporean households,
In essence, these two Budgets made important changes that will reshape Singapore profoundly, while also providing ballast and stability in the current turbulent times, said Ms Indranee.
Both Budgets also returned to a projected surplus amid higher-than-expected takings from corporate taxes.
