Using collective resources to build S'pore

The Budget is about using collective resources to build the country and improve the lives of Singaporeans, Finance Minister Lawrence Wong said in his Budget speech yesterday.

Mr Wong said: "The Budget supports spending on programmes for all in areas such as security, housing, education and health. Every dollar collected flows back to our taxpayers in one way or another."

These include providing Silver Support payments to lower-income seniors and Workfare payouts to lower-income workers, as well as health and childcare subsidies and the education that every child receives, he said.

The Budget will continue to be expansionary for financial year 2022 to support the economy, with an expected deficit of $3 billion, or 0.5 per cent of Singapore's gross domestic product.

This is smaller than FY2021's overall deficit of $5 billion, or 0.9 per cent of GDP.

The main items in this year's Budget include:

 • A $500 million Jobs and Businesses Support Package to provide targeted help for workers and firms facing slower recovery, such as in the tourism, food and beverage, retail and sports industries.

 • A $560 million Household Support Package to help Singapore families manage cost of living pressures, with more support for utilities and education-related expenses, as well as another set of $100 Community Development Council vouchers for households. The earlier-announced $6 billion Assurance Package to cushion the impact of the goods and services tax (GST) hike will receive a $640 million top-up.

 • A new Progressive Wage Credit Scheme, which co-funds wage increases of lower-wage workers between this year and 2026, will receive an initial injection of $2 billion. The scheme complements the extension of the Progressive Wage Model to more sectors over the next two years, such as retail, food services and waste management.

An increase of $4 billion in total expenditure is expected in the coming year as Singapore spends more in the areas of health, defence and manpower.

Estimated ministry spending for FY2022 is $102.4 billion, up from the revised FY2021 estimate of $98.4 billion. Including special tran-sfers of $6.2 billion, the Republic has a $109 billion Budget this year.

However, revenue for 2022 is projected to be $81.75 billion - $1.38 billion more than the previous year's revised estimates.

The Net Investment Returns Contribution (NIRC) for FY2022 is expected to be $21.56 billion - a 6 per cent increase.

The overall Budget deficit for FY2021 was pared down to $5 billion, from the $11 billion estimated previously.

The latest figure takes into account capitalisation of nationally significant infrastructure of $0.66 billion, after the passing of the Significant Infrastructure Government Loan Act in May last year to finance major long-term infrastructure investments.

Revised operating revenue went up to $80.4 billion, up $3.8 billion from the $76.6 billion estimated previously.

The increase is mainly due to higher collections of personal income tax from higher-than-expected wage growth, stamp duty and vehicle quota premiums.

The revised figure for stamp duty collections is $6.5 billion, which is $2.2 billion higher than the budgeted estimate, as the property market was more buoyant than expected.