This year's Budget - named Emerging Stronger Together - will focus on how Singapore can come out of the Covid-19 crisis stronger, and forge partnerships to meet the challenges ahead as one people.
This means finding new ways to innovate and transform the economy, said Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat in a Facebook post yesterday ahead of his Budget statement today.
"We must strengthen our social compact and support one another, especially those with greater needs. On this little red dot, we must strengthen efforts to tackle climate change, and build a sustainable home for generations to come," he wrote.
"Importantly, we must continue to be prudent in our spending, and leave a better future for our children."
The Government rolled out five Budgets last year, committing close to $100 billion, or 20 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP), in measures to mitigate the impact of Covid-19.
Singapore's economy contracted by 5.4 per cent for the whole of last year, a reversal from the 1.3 per cent growth recorded in 2019.
The Ministry of Trade and Industry is maintaining a GDP growth forecast of 4 per cent to 6 per cent this year, but expects an uneven outlook across sectors, according to a report released yesterday.
Mr Heng said that while Singapore will be ending the financial year with a record budget deficit, past reserves built up by earlier generations meant it could fund the deficit by opening the "national safe" three times.
"Our fiscal situation will continue to be tight in the coming years," he added.
Last year, the Government obtained President Halimah Yacob's approval to draw up to a total of $52 billion from past reserves, with the country racking up a projected deficit of $74.2 billion - Singapore's biggest since independence in 1965.
The President's approval to draw on past reserves was previously sought during the 2009 global financial crisis.
In an interview with Bloomberg in November last year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said that even a balanced budget would be very hard to achieve as there was money that needed to be spent amid Covid-19 while the economy was still down.
The Government is required by the Constitution to run a balanced budget over each term of office.
Mr Heng said that shared values - the desire to build on what has been inherited, and pass on something better to the next generation - are what bind Singaporeans together as a people.
"Indeed, we can take heart that through this crisis, we have built deeper social reserves - united in purpose, standing in solidarity with one another, and facing difficulties with resilience and fortitude."
Explaining the reason for naming the Budget Emerging Stronger Together, he wrote that as Covid-19 has accelerated changes and created new ones, Singapore has to navigate these shifts to thrive in a post-pandemic world.
"Our ability to plan ahead, even in the midst of a crisis, has been the hallmark of the Singapore Story.
"I decided therefore that Emerging Stronger Together should also be the name of the upcoming Budget."
He added: "Together, let's commit to build a Singapore that is economically vibrant, socially cohesive, environmentally sustainable and fiscally disciplined."
