Heng Swee Keat
Singapore
“In a world heading towards greater contest and fragmentation, amid rapid advances in science, technology and innovation, Singaporeans can play a valuable part as bridge-builders and connectors, and Singapore can be a trusted and neutral Global-Asia node of technology, innovation and enterprise.”
“The National Quantum Office has identified specific goals under the National Quantum Strategy (NQS), with resources and efforts directed towards specific quantum areas and technologies accordingly.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, I would like to thank Member Ms Denise Phua for her comments because her comments reminded me of the tagline that I always said when I was in MOE – that you can learn from anyone, anytime, anywhere. In fact, peer learning is a very important aspect of that learning.”
“But I have laid out the strong basis for my optimism that a small and open economy like Singapore can continue to thrive and secure our next bound of growth. By serving as a trusted node and connector, we can create value by facilitating connections and building new linkages in today's fractured global landscape.”
“Secondly, one other very important thing the Member must bear in mind is that AI is a very rapidly developing field and it is something which our researchers are working hard on, to look at the different techniques of AI – it is not just GenAI, but the whole range of different AI systems that are being used – and how that can be used in c…”
“Assoc Prof Jamus Lim, you do not need an invitation. You are free to provide your suggestion. After all, are you not from WP? And by the way, let me make it clear that I have heard MPs on both aisles speaking about workers, and we have a very strong presence of our union MPs here and they will be speaking even more on this.”
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“Singaporeans from all walks of life have responded with unity, resilience and in solidarity. Even as we stay home for Singapore, we take the inconveniences in our stride and make the necessary adjustments to our daily routines with the support of digital tools. Many festivities such as Easter, Vesak Day and Hari Raya Puasa were celebrated virtually. We continue to resolutely tackle the twists and turns in this COVID-19 pandemic together. In response to the surge in global demand for masks and export restriction controls on key medical supplies, we are building up the local production of surgical and cloth masks. We are managing the situation in migrant worker dormitories together. Our agencies pulled out all the stops to set up centres in a matter of days and have been running major operations to take care of the workers. NGOs such as the Migrant Workers' Centre and volunteer groups such as the COVID-19 Migrant Support Coalition are also providing significant support. Many are coming forward to contribute their resources, skills and gifts to help the wider community get through this together. Arts organisations are developing digital content to keep people engaged at home. An example is 3Pumpkins, a community arts company working with local artists to produce programmes for Malay, Mandarin and dialect-speaking audiences, which are then hosted online. Several Members of this House have also been part of local efforts to hand-sew reusable masks – masks sewn with love. CARE officers from Government agencies and volunteer professionals from the social service and private sectors are manning the 24-hour National Care Hotline. This hotline continues to provide emotional support to those in need during the COVID-19 crisis.”
“Every household with at least one Citizen will also receive a one-off $100 Solidarity Utilities Credit. We will also support the social sector in digitalising and scaling up capabilities to better serve their beneficiaries. The Government will also set aside $100 million to provide dollar-for-dollar matching on eligible donations for charities and provide a top-up to the Invictus Fund to encourage Singaporeans to donate generously. As online communications become more prevalent, the Government will also launch a series of initiatives to partner families and communities to enable more seniors to use digital technologies and enjoy the convenience that these technologies can bring. Through these four Budgets this year, the Government has committed almost $100 billion to battle COVID-19. We have been able to do so because we have our Past Reserves as a strong backing. Here, I would like to thank President Halimah for giving in-principle support for the Government to draw $31 billion from our Past Reserves to support this Fortitude Budget. Our Past Reserves are accumulated by our forefathers through their hard work. We must cherish it and make every dollar spent count. Soon, we will be celebrating our 55th National Day. Our forefathers overcame all kinds of difficulties with the spirit of fortitude to build what Singapore is today. COVID-19 is a real test for our generation. Although the future is uncertain, if we can adapt to the changing circumstances, respond with fortitude, and unite as one, we shall overcome this crisis and secure our future. (In English): Mr Speaker, Sir, I will now conclude in English. The COVID-19 crisis is a major challenge for Singapore and all Singaporeans, and for people around the world.”
“The Government will launch the SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package to create 100,000 jobs, traineeships and skill training opportunities, in partnership with the business associations and unions. This includes 40,000 jobs, 25,000 traineeships and 30,000 skills training opportunities. This will benefit graduating students and mid-career Singaporeans, enabling them to join the workforce sooner. The Government will also provide a cash grant and legislate to provide rental relief to SMEs. Tenants of Government properties will also receive between one to two months of additional rental relief. On top of existing rebates, these tenants could receive a total of two to five months of rental rebates. Hawkers in Government-operated hawker centres or markets can receive a total of five months of rental rebate. In addition, we will also extend the Jobs Support Scheme by a month until August. At the same time, we will provide 75% wage support for firms that are not allowed to re-open. We will also increase the wage support for firms that have been more severely hit than expected. We will also provide foreign workers' levy waivers and rebates to firms that cannot re-open. Digitalisation is increasingly important for firms, especially SMEs. As such, the Government will set aside more than $500 million to provide a Digital Resilience Bonus and other support measures to accelerate the firms' digital transformation. We will also provide more support for Singaporeans, set aside resources to encourage philanthropy, so as to build a more resilient and inclusive society. The Government has received 48,000 applications for the COVID-19 Support Grant. We will set aside an additional $800 million for this to help Singaporeans who have been displaced from their jobs or have their incomes affected.”
“Under the Constitution, the Minister for Finance may make advances from the Contingencies Funds if the Minister is satisfied that there is an urgent and unforeseen need for the expenditure, and the President concurs with the making of such advances. Thereafter, the amount advanced shall be included in a Supplementary Supply Bill or Final Supply Bill, which will be presented to and voted on by Parliament, as soon as practicable. This approach is appropriate and prudent, given the fluid situation which may require the Government to act swiftly in the coming months. Mr Speaker, Sir, before I conclude, allow me to say a few words in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.] This is the fourth Budget I introduced this year. Since I presented the Solidarity Budget seven weeks ago, the situation has deteriorated sharply. Many countries have imposed the lockdown measures to control the pandemic, causing an unprecedented impact on economies and societies. Singapore, too, cannot be spared. There is still much that the international community does not know about the virus. It is difficult to predict accurately how the pandemic will evolve. Hence, the road ahead of us is fraught with uncertainties. To ameliorate the impacts of the pandemic and to help everyone adapt to this new normal, I am putting forth this Fortitude Budget totaling $33 billion. We need to give targeted support to firms and workers, and to do so in a way that allows our workers and businesses to adapt, transform and pivot towards new opportunities. This allows us to preserve jobs, livelihoods and businesses.”
“While we have the resources and the will to do what is needed in fighting COVID-19, we must continue to stay nimble and adaptive in this rapidly evolving situation. We are dealing, as many have said, with a very smart and agile virus. To cater for urgent and unforeseen expenditure needs which have yet to be provided for under the Supply Act, the Constitution provides for Parliament to create Contingencies Funds. Each year, in our annual Budget, we set aside a total of $3 billion as a buffer in the Contingencies Fund and the Development Contingencies Fund. With COVID-19, we are facing unprecedented levels of uncertainty – it is uncertain how the pandemic will evolve, if there will be a second or even third wave, and if, and when, vaccines will be available. The uncertainty on the medical front is fuelling the uncertainty in the global economy. Members will appreciate that within less than four months, we are deploying four Budgets to protect Singapore and Singaporeans. To meet this unprecedented level of uncertainty, we will set aside a larger sum in the Contingencies Funds, so that we can respond to urgent and unforeseen needs swiftly. Having briefed Cabinet, the President and the CPA, I will set aside an additional $13 billion in the Contingencies Funds. This will allow the Government to respond quickly to any unforeseeable developments arising from COVID-19. This could include public health or fiscal measures that have to be put in place quickly, if the medical or economic situation deteriorates. We will do our best to avoid this, but we must be prepared for any eventuality. The use of the Contingencies Funds is subject to proper governance and accountability.”
“Lives and livelihoods continue to be at stake… Having deliberated and considered the recommendation of the CPA, I am satisfied that the fourth support package is necessary… I have therefore given my in-principle support for the proposed measures to draw on the Government's past reserves." Altogether, we are looking at drawing up to a total of $52 billion from Past Reserves this financial year to enable Singaporeans to tide through this crisis and emerge stronger. This is a very significant amount, necessitated by the very exceptional nature of the COVID-19 crisis. I thank President Halimah, Chairman Eddie Teo and members of the CPA for their support. Members of this House know how strict I have been on prudence and my Ministry's emphasis on value-for-money spending. The Public Accounts Committee has also been scrutinising the Government's expenditure. I have deliberated long and hard on the measures and went through many rounds of deliberations with fellow Ministers and my staff. I have also discussed with the Prime Minister and my Cabinet colleagues before finalising this set of measures. It has been an unprecedented crisis that is still changing rapidly. But I am grateful that we have the fiscal resources to mount this response and the unity, resilience and solidarity of our people to battle this together. We have a responsibility to make the best use of these resources, to keep our people safe, to save jobs and transform businesses and to emerge stronger. Every dollar that we have saved has been saved by careful counting over the years. In spending this national savings now, we must make every dollar spent count.”
“In our fight against COVID-19, our Past Reserves have been critical in enabling us to respond comprehensively and robustly to the situation at hand. We will have to deploy it in a deliberate manner, and at decisive moments, in this battle against COVID-19. In the earlier Resilience and Solidarity Budgets, the President gave approval to draw up to $21 billion from our Past Reserves. This allowed us to safeguard jobs, keep the economy going, and provide direct assistance to Singaporeans during this difficult period. I also told Members then, that I was prepared to propose to the President to make further draws on Past Reserves, should it be necessary. Since the Resilience and Solidarity Budgets, the impact of COVID-19 on Singapore has deepened. Lives and livelihoods are at stake, and we are moving to secure our future. After a challenging circuit breaker period, we are now preparing to re-open our economy. To do so in a safe and calibrated manner and to continue to support our people, we are proposing a further draw on our Past Reserves. The Prime Minister met with the President to share the Government's considerations. Ministers Gan Kim Yong, Lawrence Wong, Chan Chun Sing, and Indranee Rajah joined me last week, to brief the President and the Council of Presidential Advisers (CPA) on the Government's assessment of the situation, the details of the measures and the resources needed. The President, in consultation with the CPA, has given her in-principle support for a further draw of $31 billion from our Past Reserves to fund the measures in this Budget. As President Halimah stated in a Facebook post yesterday and I quote, "Indeed, this crisis is unprecedented.”
“This Fund will support our social service agencies to maintain service continuity, retain staff and adopt technology to transform their work. To enhance support for our social service agencies, I will provide a top-up of $18 million to the Invictus Fund. Details are in the Annex. [Please refer to Annex C-1.] I urge our social service agencies to accelerate their digitalisation efforts, scale up capabilities and share resources and efforts to solve common challenges. We will continue to provide our strongest support for you so that you can serve your clients better. Mr Speaker, Sir, this Fortitude Budget will commit a total of $33 billion to support the next phase of our fight against COVID-19 and to position ourselves to emerge stronger. Together with the Unity, Resilience and Solidarity Budgets, we are dedicating close to $100 billion or $92.9 billion to be precise, about 20% of our GDP, to support our people in this battle. The Overall Budget deficit for FY2020 will increase to $74.3 billion, or 15.4% of GDP. This is the largest Overall Budget deficit in Singapore's history since our independence. Details are in the Annex. [Please refer to Annex D-1.] This Fortitude Budget will be funded out of Past Reserves. This is the second draw on Past Reserves this financial year. Our Past Reserves are our strategic asset, built up through the prudence and hard work of our people, across generations. The Government has always upheld the principle that our Past Reserves are to be used only in exceptional circumstances. For the Unity, Resilience and Solidarity Budgets, we used up almost all our accumulated surpluses since the start of this term of Government. But what we need to deal effectively with COVID-19 has grown so much that we have no choice but to draw on Past Reserves.”
“This creative idea supports our hawkers and allows beneficiaries to get freshly cooked food, while our social service agencies save costs and reduce food wastage. To support the building of digital capabilities as a key priority, the National Council of Social Service, or NCSS, is mobilising corporate partners to lend their expertise. Many have stepped up, including ThunderQuote which developed self-help guides on remote working tools and TechLadies which provides general consultancy. MSF and NCSS will continue to support the social service sector in building capabilities. Funding is currently available through the VWO-Charities Capability Fund. In future, these initiatives can also be funded by the Community Capability Trust, which I announced at the Unity Budget. While continuing to be passionate about supporting the vulnerable in our community, our charities and social service agencies are facing difficulties. The leaders appreciate the support from the Jobs Support Scheme, but they are facing falling donations. To provide more support for our charities amidst COVID-19, the Government will partner the Tote Board to enhance the matching for donations through Tote Board's Enhanced Fund-raising Programme. Charities can apply to receive dollar-for-dollar matching on eligible donations, which are raised from projects in FY2020, up to a cap of $250,000 per charity. This includes donations raised through approved digital platforms. To enable this, I will provide a top-up of $100 million, to add to the existing $70 million budget for the Enhanced Fund-Raising Programme. I strongly urge Singaporeans and residents in Singapore who are able, to donate generously. NCSS had earlier set up the Invictus Fund to provide additional support to social service agencies.”
“For seniors from lower income households who wish to learn but are unable to afford devices, we will provide them with financial support. I strongly encourage our youths who have the digital skills, as well as corporates, to step forward to reach out. The Minister for Communications and Information and IMDA will share more details later. Besides digital inclusion, another pillar for social resilience is our social service agencies and charities. They are key partners who have been supporting families and vulnerable groups during this period. In the years ahead, a stronger social service sector will be even more critical. Last Saturday, Ministers Grace Fu, Indranee and Desmond joined me in a video conference with leaders of our social service agencies. They shared with us how they have been using digital means to reach out to the diverse clients they are serving. It has not been easy, but they tried and found it useful. We are very encouraged by their can-do spirit. Many found, in their words, "opportunities in adversity", and were able to "turn the challenges during the circuit breaker into new areas of strength". While these cannot replace the human touch, they found digital tools, a useful complement that would help them better reach out to their clients even after the circuit breaker. To serve their clients better, several social service agencies have started on the digitalisation journey and many want to press ahead with their transformation. For example, Project Belanja! by Food from the Heart. Beneficiaries can simply scan a QR code at partner food stalls to obtain a hot meal, instead of having volunteers go door-to-door to deliver food.”
“Going forward, digital inclusion should be an important way for us to strengthen social resilience. Regardless of age or resources, all members of our society should have access to digital resources with no one left behind. To this end, we will provide help for specific groups. The first group is our students who have gone through about four weeks of home-based learning during the circuit breaker. To support students from lower-income families who may not have digital access at home, MOE loaned over 22,000 computing devices and internet dongles to enable all students to benefit from full home-based learning and continue to connect with their teachers and friends. As part of longer term plans to support digital literacy for all students, MOE will accelerate the timeline for all Secondary School students to own a digital learning device. The Minister for Education will announce details later. Another group is our seniors. Seniors, who are more vulnerable if infected, are staying home during this period and many will have to continue doing so to protect themselves from COVID-19. But such isolation can affect their health. The Silver Generation Office has been keeping in touch with seniors with care needs and weaker family support through telephone calls and will continue to do so. To enable seniors to stay in contact with their families and friends and for our care teams and volunteers to reach out more effectively, IMDA will launch a Seniors Go Digital movement to support seniors to adopt digital channels and equip them with the digital skills to do so. This will require all-round support from family, friends and the wider community. We will launch a Digital Ambassadors movement to rally the community and volunteers to support our seniors to acquire digital skills.”
“Earlier, I announced in the Unity Budget that I would double the amount of U-Save rebates through a one-off GST Voucher – U-Save Special Payment for eligible HDB households to help with utility bills. Larger households with five or more members get more and can receive up to $1,000 in U-Save rebates this year. Singaporeans have given us the feedback that while they are saving on transport fares and other charges, they are expecting to spend more on their utility bills as they stay home during the circuit breaker period. To thank all Singaporeans for doing our part in staying home for Singapore, I will provide a one-off $100 Solidarity Utilities Credit to each household with at least one Singapore Citizen. This will cover all property types and will be credited in the July or August utilities bill. Altogether, we have put in place numerous schemes to tide our households through this period. With your permission, Mr Speaker, may I ask the Clerks to distribute the household support summary to all Members of this House. As Members can see, we have payments that will be coming on stream, particularly, every month – some form of payment to our households to support our households. During the stay-home period, families are making fuller use of digital technology for home-based learning, entertainment, ordering meals and keeping in touch with families and friends. The value of access to digital technology is clear. During COVID-19, being able to connect with each other safely has enabled support, especially for vulnerable members of our community. In a post-COVID-19 world, having all on board digital channels will open up exciting new possibilities for different members of the community to engage with and support each other.”
“To strengthen support for our families, I will set aside another $800 million for the COVID-19 Support Grant. For self-employed persons, we are providing direct cash assistance through the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme, or SIRS. Over 100,000 self-employed persons will be receiving their first payout of $3,000 this week. Self-employed persons who do not automatically qualify or have marginally missed the criteria can approach NTUC. So far, NTUC has received over 60,000 applications and is working hard to process them. Applicants can expect to hear from NTUC within a month of submitting their application. I also encourage all self-employed persons to make full use of the SEP Training Support Scheme to train and upskill. Some self-employed persons are re-assessing their career options, looking at industries which are hiring. We will support you to access training programmes to make the transition. To help all Singaporeans with their household expenses during this period of uncertainty, I introduced a comprehensive Care and Support Package in my previous Budgets. Adult Singaporeans would have received their Solidarity Payment of $600 in cash. I am encouraged to hear that some have donated the payout to help others with greater needs. The Care and Support Package has other components that will flow in the coming months. For instance, lower- and middle-income Singaporeans will be receiving their remaining Care and Support – Cash payout of $300 or $600 in June. Parents with young Singaporean children will also receive the $300 cash payout at the same time. These are on top of permanent support schemes such as the GST Voucher-Cash, which will be paid out in August.”
“I have requested him to chair a National Jobs Council to oversee this very important work and I thank him for agreeing. The National Jobs Council will be focused on creating jobs and building deep skills. This important effort will be integrated with the work of the Future Economy Council on the overall upgrading of our economy through the Industry Transformation Maps in each cluster. This will also be integrated into our Emerging Stronger Task Force work. In this way, we can marshal all our experiences and expertise to manage the huge changes that are coming our way. The National Jobs Council will provide details later. I have spoken about what we will do to protect livelihoods, create new opportunities and help our workers access good jobs. I will now turn to how we will protect our families and the community and to help Singaporeans cope with this period of uncertainty. In the last three Budgets, we provided direct support to all Singaporeans and provided more for the lower income. During the month of April, the Temporary Relief Fund assisted 450,000 individuals who were in need of immediate financial help before other support schemes came on stream. Many have written to my colleagues and me to express their appreciation for the help received. We are very glad that you have found this helpful. We will continue to provide help for immediate needs. The COVID-19 Support Grant is now in place. It covers those who have lost their jobs, are placed on no-pay leave or will see salaries significantly reduced in the coming months due to COVID-19. In the three weeks after the COVID-19 Support Grant started, we received about 48,000 applications. We are committed to providing help to those who have been badly affected.”
“I am greatly encouraged by how our tripartite partners are working together, going all out to provide strong support to our skills and jobs initiatives. The Singapore Business Federation is currently the programme manager for SGUnited Traineeships. They are working hard to bring as many host companies on board and as quickly as possible. NTUC, besides supporting current workers, is reaching out to fresh graduates through the Young NTUC Movement to consider the SGUnited Traineeships programme as an option after graduation. Some employers have stepped forward to offer jobs and traineeships. This not only contributes to the national effort but it is also a far-sighted move to build longer term capabilities for their companies. I encourage employers to also make good use of the strong support we provide to upskill your existing workers during this downtime so that they can emerge stronger when business picks up. In total, to deal with the impact of COVID-19 on jobs, I will set aside about $2 billion for the SGUnited Jobs and Skills package this year to strengthen employment and training support for our workers. Details are in the Annex. [Please refer to Annex B-4.] Members will appreciate the range of schemes in the SGUnited Jobs and Skills package. I have set out the broad strategy. To ensure that the strategy can be implemented well and to sustain the momentum of current efforts, careful design of the schemes and attention to implementation details are critical. Senior Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam, as Coordinating Minister for Social Policies and former Finance as well as Education Minister, has both detailed knowledge and deep expertise in this issue.”
“Jobseekers will be given opportunities to apply their training through attachments or participation in company projects. They will also be provided with career guidance and job placement support. They will also receive a training allowance of $1,200 per month during the course of their training. This will help them focus on their training and job search. This programme will be rolled out progressively from July 2020. The fourth component is a horizontal layer of our SGUnited Jobs and Skills package. It is a hiring incentive. Ultimately, our traineeships and skills training are to help our people to secure jobs. In these uncertain times, I understand why many employers, even if they are doing well, are reluctant to hire. To support employers in hiring, I will provide a hiring incentive to employers to hire local workers who have gone through eligible traineeship and training schemes. In the Unity Budget, I announced a hiring incentive under the SkillsFuture Mid-Career Support package. For eligible workers aged 40 and above, I will double the incentive to cover 40% of their salary over six months, capped at $12,000 in total. Together with other support, such as the special SkillsFuture Credit top-up of $500 to every Singaporean aged 40 to 60 in 2020, we are providing specially enhanced support for jobs and training for this group. If needed, they can also benefit from other support schemes this period, such as the COVID-19 Support Grant. Further, I will also expand the hiring incentive to cover workers of all ages. For eligible workers under 40, this incentive will cover 20% of their monthly salary over six months, capped at $6,000 in total.”
“Agencies in our research and development sector, including our Universities, A*STAR research institutes, AI Singapore and SGInnovate will work with local deep-tech companies and start-ups for trainees to work with industry partners on real-world science and technology projects. These will include areas such as software learning and AI. As earlier announced by the Minister for Manpower, these traineeships will be progressively offered from 1 June this year. We will pay special attention to mid-career jobseekers. We understand that many are worried about their job prospects. Hence, we will create a new SGUnited Mid-Career Traineeships scheme for unemployed mid-career jobseekers. Our agencies will work with interested companies to provide 4,000 traineeships for our mid-career jobseekers. This scheme specifically caters to the needs of mid-career individuals, to learn new skills and embark on new careers. Also, included under the Traineeships category are WSG's Attach-and-Train programmes under the Adapt and Grow Initiative targeted at mid-career individuals. We will also scale these up, to provide meaningful traineeship opportunities. The third component in the SGUnited Jobs and Skills package is a new SGUnited Skills programme to expand training capacity for about 30,000 jobseekers this year. Jobseekers can upgrade their skills while looking for a job. Participants in this SGUnited Skills programme will take industry-relevant and certifiable training courses full-time at highly subsidised rates. The course fees can be substantially, if not fully offset by their SkillsFuture Credit. The courses will be delivered by companies and Continuing Education Training (CET) Centres, including Institutes of Higher Learning.”
“As of December 2019, over a thousand have been trained in partnership with industry leaders such as Accenture, DBS Bank and Google. Over 90% of them have been emplaced in ICT-related roles. I look forward to more industry partners coming on board, to help prepare more Singaporeans for a future where digitalisation becomes increasingly important. The second component in this SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package is traineeships. We will provide jobseekers with a wider range of traineeships to gain industry-relevant experience. Trainees may be emplaced in jobs with their host companies at the end of their traineeships. Even if they do not, they would have learnt valuable skills for other jobs. In total, we target to create about 25,000 traineeship positions this year. Of this, 21,000 will be from the SGUnited Traineeships programme, and another 4,000 places from a new SGUnited Mid-Career Traineeships scheme. Let me elaborate. In the Resilience Budget, I announced the SGUnited Traineeships programme targeted at our local first-time jobseekers, where WSG funds the training allowances with host companies, for up to 12 months. I am glad to see strong interest from more than a thousand host companies. The public sector is also keen to offer new traineeship opportunities. With this momentum, I will more than double the provision, to provide 21,000 traineeships this year. To support our technology and innovation drive, these traineeships will include technology-related areas that are in high demand or emerging rapidly. DSTA will offer diploma holders the opportunity to build skills in fast-growing technology areas like IT and engineering.”
“This included the SkillsFuture Mid-Career Support Package. I also enhanced our placement and training programmes in the Unity and Resilience Budgets, to boost support for our workers in sectors that were more severely impacted by the COVID-19 outbreak. In this Budget, I will launch an SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package, to create close to 100,000 opportunities in three areas – 40,000 jobs, 25,000 traineeships and 30,000 skills training. This will support the immediate needs of our workers and raise the skills of our people for future jobs. Together, these cater to workers with different skill levels and career aspirations, and to the needs of diverse firms across industries. The first component in this SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package is jobs. We will continue to expand the number of job opportunities, in both the public and private sectors, to more than 40,000. The public sector will bring forward our hiring to meet long-term needs, like early childhood education, healthcare and long-term care. Together with jobs to meet short-term needs related to COVID-19 operations, such as healthcare declaration assistants and swabbers, the public sector will create 15,000 jobs. Our agencies will also work with businesses to create 25,000 jobs. Many businesses have stepped forward, with openings in a wide range of job roles, such as computer engineers and machine operators. I encourage more businesses to do even more in the coming months. To equip our people to take on these jobs, we will expand capacity in Career Conversion Programmes, such as in Place-and-Train conversion programmes under the Adapt and Grow Initiative, and Company-Led Training programmes under the TechSkills Accelerator or TeSA initiative. TeSA has been successful since its launch in Budget 2016.”
“Last month, Singapore issued a Joint Ministerial Statement alongside 10 other countries affirming our commitment to upholding supply chain connectivity and resilience during the COVID-19 situation. These links will support our businesses to go digital and global. By staying successful, they will create good jobs for our people. For example, in the Networked Trade Platform, we have set up customs declaration data exchanges with countries in the region and further afield, such as Australia, China and the Netherlands to facilitate trade. Our Grow Digital programme is also helping SMEs to access overseas markets through e-commerce platforms. I have spoken on the first two thrusts – providing timely support for our businesses, and accelerating transformation. By supporting our businesses to stay viable, they save jobs and also create good jobs for the future. I now turn to the third thrust, on supporting our workers to secure these opportunities. An adaptable and skilled workforce will in turn power our businesses. This is a synergy that we must seek to achieve. In the tough months ahead, we must be prepared for some job losses. While we will try to preserve jobs in the midst of this crisis, we cannot protect every job. However, you have my assurance that the Government will protect every worker. Our promise to workers is this. As long as you are willing to pick up new skills and adapt, to access available opportunities to work or learn, the Government will provide our strongest support to help you. Over the years, we have built up a strong base of support to help workers train and get good jobs, especially in sectors with growth potential. In the Unity Budget, I announced enhancements, in the form of the Next Bound of SkillsFuture.”
“The Government will harness the talents of our best software engineers, AI experts, learning scientists and educators to develop the relevant pedagogy and build new digital platforms for online teaching and learning, and integrate the latest advancements in AI and learning sciences. The National Research Foundation and MOE will provide more details later. We are committing our fullest support to help our businesses ride the wave of digital transformation and technological changes. But success will require strong partnerships across the economy. To catalyse partnerships, we will introduce a set of National Innovation Challenges, riding on the success of the Open Innovation Platform. With the National Innovation Challenges, we will focus on partnerships to develop industry-led solutions to the challenges that all businesses are grappling with: starting with how we can reopen Singapore safely – to achieve safe workplaces, safe homes, safe schools and safe commuting. The relevant agencies will articulate the critical problems that we seek to solve, or the leap that we are hoping to make. We hope that corporates, start-ups and others in the private and people sectors can step forward to form partnerships to provide solutions that can be scaled. The Government will provide support for this innovation drive. The National Research Foundation and the Ministers for Communications and Information and for Trade and Industry will share more details on these initiatives. COVID-19 has also accelerated the decline in support for globalisation and disrupted supply chains. Governments and businesses are re-evaluating their risks. There will be a premium on resilience. In this new world, we must continue to build on our reputation as a trusted, neutral, and reliable Global-Asia node.”
“Under SMEs Go Digital, we have rolled out the Food Delivery and e-commerce Booster Packages. More than 10,000 food services and retail establishments have benefited from these packages and gone online. To give a further boost, we will introduce a Digital Resilience Bonus to help businesses take their next step to digitalise. We will start with the F&B and retail sectors, which are most affected by the safe distancing requirements as we re-open the economy. Eligible businesses can receive a payout of up to $5,000 if they adopt PayNow Corporate and e-invoicing, as well as business process or e-commerce solutions. Details are in the Annex. [Please refer to Annex B-3.] Third, businesses which already have basic digital capabilities, should deepen their digital transformation. We will help them make use of advanced digital tools in an integrated way. The Digital Resilience Bonus will have an additional tier of $5,000 for F&B and retail businesses which also incorporate advanced solutions. I will also set aside $250 million to help businesses digitalise in partnership with platform solution providers and industry champions. For example, developing Offline-to-Online business models to access new domestic revenue streams and international demand. This will mitigate the impact of COVID-19 on revenues. Apart from businesses, our schools and Institutes of Higher Learning must also make full use of digital technologies for learning. MOE has been doing this from the time I was Education Minister. The Student Learning Space (SLS), designed as a platform for self-directed learning, has been instrumental in supporting our teachers for home-based learning during the circuit breaker.”
“This is a good thing. But I know that many businesses fear being left behind and shut out of the future. Businesses that are not digitally connected have been hit hard during the circuit breaker. Earlier, we had been supporting businesses strongly to go digital. I am glad that businesses are now taking this seriously. To accelerate change, I will allocate more than $500 million to support businesses in their digital transformation. Those who are willing to transform will not be left behind. Our augmented support for digital transformation in this Budget has three groups. First, for those who have not begun using digital tools, we will help them to get on board with digital transformation, building on current momentum. For example, in e-payments, the take-up by businesses has risen sharply – 50,000 more businesses have adopted PayNow Corporate since April this year. IMDA, NEA, JTC, HDB and Enterprise Singapore will provide a bonus of $300 per month over five months to encourage more stallholders in hawker centres, wet markets, coffee shops, and industrial canteens to use e-payments and avoid having to handle cash. They should not be left behind as the whole economy transforms. Second, we will enhance our support for businesses which are ready to take their basic payment and invoicing functions digital. This will be coupled with support to keep their business running and even acquire new revenue lines. We will help businesses to implement safe management measures and business continuity strategies to adapt to new post-COVID norms, an area that the Singapore Business Federation suggested supporting. We had earlier enhanced SMEs Go Digital to help businesses adopt digital solutions to cope with circuit breaker measures.”
“I set up the Emerging Stronger Taskforce to plan for the post-COVID world to study how we can emerge stronger. The Emerging Stronger Taskforce will work with the Future Economy Council Sub-Committees to study how sectors can adjust to the many changes that are coming. They will draw on support from industry experts and consultancy firms to come up with actionable recommendations. For the sectors that are more badly hit, and which also face significant structural disruptions, we will undertake a review on the medium-term outlook and our responses to adapt to the changes ahead. After observing companies for several years now since we started work on the Future Economy, I found that companies that are adapting to structural changes early are also adapting better to this sudden shock. If change is a constant, innovation and resilience are simply manifestations of our ability to deal with change – be it persistent or sudden. The Emerging Stronger Task Force is studying two key shifts: the rise of digital transformation and the decline in support for globalisation; and shifts in global supply chains. These shifts were already taking place, but COVID-19 has accelerated them. Our businesses must adapt and we will support them in this. Building on the momentum of digital transformation, the first key shift is in the digital transformation. We will not go back to our old ways. Digital solutions will become more deeply embedded in our lives. Telecommuting, online food and services, and virtual events are now the norm. A McKinsey study shows that we have seen the equivalent of five years of consumer and business digital adoption in just eight weeks since the COVID-19 pandemic started. Indeed, COVID-19 has done what many CEOs and CTOs found hard to do – accelerate digitalisation!”
“There are many significant infrastructure projects, including public infrastructure, such as MRT lines and public housing that we must continue to plan and build. I have covered the higher tier of JSS support for locals who are in the sector, including project managers, engineers, architects, draughtsman and quantity surveyors. I have also covered the Foreign Worker Levy rebate and waiver to support businesses in this sector, so that they can continue to play their part in building Singapore. I will now provide support to co-share the additional costs that will be incurred by businesses who will need to meet additional requirements in order to resume their existing projects safely. The Minister for National Development and BCA will announce the details later. Taken together, our support in past Budgets and this Fortitude Budget will help tide businesses through their periods of closure and to retain and rebuild core capabilities. Based on our current re-opening plans, we expect most businesses to re-open by July. This support would enable most sectors to recover in the coming months. But some sectors, such as aviation and tourism, will take longer to re-open fully, given the restrictions on global travel for the foreseeable future. The Government will consider providing additional help, depending on the situation and longer term shape of these industries and plans for the economy. In the interim, I urge businesses to make good use of the existing support and consider how to transform for a post-COVID world. I have covered the support that we are providing to businesses in the near term, to save jobs. But we must also think ahead. To ensure good job opportunities remain available for Singaporeans, we must work to build strong and viable businesses for the future.”
“These help individuals and SMEs to continue servicing their loans and paying for insurance coverage. Notwithstanding this enhanced support, business leaders, including at my virtual meeting with the Singapore Business Federation (SBF) and the Future Economy Council, tell me that in this environment, some promising start-ups in Singapore are finding it hard to raise capital and develop their businesses. Left unaddressed, this could set back our efforts and result in the loss of good jobs and good companies. It is important to preserve what has been built up in our innovation eco-system so painstakingly over the years. To bridge this financing gap, I will provide financing support for promising start-ups. This will help them sustain their innovation and entrepreneurship journey. I will set aside $285 million, to catalyse and crowd in at least another $285 million in matching private investments. This is in addition to the $300 million I had set aside under the Unity Budget for deep-tech start-ups to gain better access to capital, expertise and industry networks under Startup SG Equity. These start-ups can also make full use of the SGUnited Traineeship scheme, which I will cover later, to bring in graduating students with deep interests in the fields they are exploring and build up our talent base. Government agencies have also been rolling out support packages to address other sector-specific needs. We have introduced packages for the aviation, tourism, land transport, arts and culture, financial and maritime sectors. We will introduce further support for the built environment sector, which includes construction.”
“It will also allow tenants to repay their arrears through instalments. If the Bill is passed by Parliament, SME tenants in commercial properties who have suffered a significant revenue drop will benefit from a total of four months of rental relief – shared equally between the Government and landlords. Other SME tenants in industrial and office properties will also be given some relief. SMEs also already benefit from temporary relief from rental payment obligations till October. Together, these will provide substantial support on rental costs, for our SMEs. The Government will also continue to lead by example in supporting our tenants. I will provide two more months of rental waivers for commercial tenants and hawkers. The total rental waiver will now be four months for commercial tenants. Stallholders in hawker centres and markets managed by Government agencies will get a total of five months of rental waivers. For industrial, office, and agricultural tenants of Government agencies, I will provide one more month of rental waiver. They will now receive a total of two months of rental waiver. We will also ensure that these measures flow through to help sub-tenants, many of whom are SMEs. This will dovetail with measures for SMEs being studied by the Minister for Law. Let me move to the last "C", credit. We introduced and enhanced various financing schemes, such as the Temporary Bridging Loan Programme and the Enterprise Financing Scheme in the past Budgets. The take-up has been high. The schemes have catalysed $4.5 billion of loans so far, benefiting 5,000 businesses. This is more than three times the amount of loans catalysed for the whole of 2019. MAS, together with banks, finance companies and insurers, has also introduced relief measures.”
“This is especially tough on SMEs. Given that businesses will need more time and support to get back on their feet post-circuit breaker, we will now do more. We will significantly add to the support for rental costs earlier provided through the Property Tax Rebate for 2020 in the Unity and Resilience Budgets. We will also expect landlords to do something, and that will be legislated. First, I will provide a cash grant to offset the rental costs of SME tenants, to be disbursed through property owners. Taken together with the Property Tax Rebate, the Government will, in effect, offset about two months of rental for qualifying SME tenants of commercial properties, and about one month for qualifying SME tenants of industrial and office properties. The grant will be disbursed automatically to property owners from end-July. This grant will cost about $2 billion. Details are in the Annex. [Please refer to Annex B-2.] Second, the Minister for Law will introduce a new Bill next week. This will mandate that landlords contribute by granting a rental waiver to their SME tenants who have suffered a significant revenue drop in the past few months. We deliberated on this matter very carefully. The Government does not ordinarily intervene in contracts after they have been entered into. However, as the Minister for Law had explained in his Second Reading speech on the COVID-19 (Temporary Measures) Bill, in exceptional situations, such as this, the Government needs to intervene, through legislation, with temporary targeted steps to safeguard the economic structure for the common good. The new Bill will also cover provisions on temporary relief from onerous contractual terms, such as excessive late payment interest or charges.”
“Through the JSS, we are flowing a total of $23.5 billion to firms to support wage costs for 10 months. I urge leaders in our industries to use this additional cushion to retain your staff, speed up adaptation, and move towards a viable business model. Please make full use of the schemes available to train workers and upgrade your corporate capabilities. Time is running out, please act fast! I am heartened that some firms which have not been as badly affected by the pandemic have returned or donated their JSS payouts. Thank you! I encourage other firms that are able, to do so as well. I will also provide support to businesses for the second "C", costs. During the circuit breaker period, we provided a Foreign Worker Levy waiver and rebate to support businesses employing migrant workers that had to suspend operations. Some businesses will not be allowed to resume operations on-site immediately after the circuit breaker is lifted. I will extend the Foreign Worker Levy waiver and rebate for up to two months for such businesses. This will include all businesses in the construction, marine and offshore and process sectors. The waiver will be 100% in June, and 50% in July. The rebate will be $750 in June and $375 in July. To help businesses manage costs in these challenging times, the Government will defer the planned increase in CPF contribution rates for senior workers by one year, from 1 January 2021 to 1 January 2022. The CPF Transition Offset scheme will similarly be deferred until after the higher contribution rates take effect. I thank the NTUC and the Singapore National Employers Federation for supporting this. Many businesses have also given feedback that while the JSS provides support on wage costs, they are facing difficulties with rental costs.”
“To provide additional relief for firms as they safely re-open after the circuit breaker period, I will provide an additional month of support. This will be computed based on the wages paid in August 2020. This support will be at the same levels as those provided during the non-circuit breaker months. Firms will receive this additional month of support in the October 2020 JSS payout. The second enhancement is for firms that cannot resume operations immediately after the circuit breaker. For such firms, I will continue providing wage support at 75% until August 2020 or when they are allowed to re-open, whichever is earlier. This includes retail outlets, gym and fitness studios and cinemas. The third enhancement is to refine the classification of firms in the different JSS tiers. This arose from feedback from industry associations and businesses. I will increase the level of wage support for firms in sectors that are more severely impacted, from the previous 25%, to either 75% or 50%. Firms in the aerospace sector, including those in Maintenance, Repair and Overhaul, will now receive 75% wage support. Firms in the retail, and marine and offshore sectors will now receive 50% support. The full list of eligible sectors and the qualifying criteria are in the Annex. [Please refer to Annex B-1.] Eligible firms will receive a back-payment to top up their previous JSS payouts to the higher level of support. This retrospective payment will be made by July. For the built environment sector, which includes construction, we will raise the wage support to 75%. This sector will be affected by the phased and gradual resumption of activities. This 75% support will only apply to wages paid between June and August. In total, these three enhancements to the JSS will cost $2.9 billion.”
“Many businesses have been hard-hit by the simultaneous demand and supply shocks caused by COVID-19. I had a virtual meeting with the Singapore Business Federation and the Future Economy Council members and Emerging Stronger Task Force co-chiars last week. While businesses appreciated the support over the past three Budgets, they recognised that the Government cannot carry businesses indefinitely. Businesses are trying hard to get back on their feet and reopen safely as they emerge from the circuit breaker. We are fully behind them and will further strengthen our support for businesses on the 3Cs – cash flow, costs and credit. I will help businesses on the first "C", cash flow, through the Jobs Support Scheme, or JSS, which supports firms in retaining and paying their workers. When the circuit breaker was imposed, I increased the wage support under the JSS to 75% of the first $4,600 of wages in April for every local employee. When the circuit breaker was extended in May, I extended the higher level of support to May. This is because most firms had to either stop operating or operate at a much-reduced level. The temporary increase in support was planned for only two months. Coming out of the circuit breaker, businesses will not be able to return immediately to pre-circuit breaker levels of operations. Hence, I reviewed the original JSS schedule with fellow Ministers and will make three enhancements to the scheme. With your permission, Mr Speaker, may I ask the Clerks to distribute a summary to all Members of this House. The first enhancement is to increase the duration of JSS payouts by one month for all firms. I previously announced that the JSS would cover nine months, computed based on wages paid to local employees up to July 2020.”
“Before I get into the details, I thank our partners – NTUC, Singapore Business Federation, Future Economy Council members, Emerging Stronger Task Force members, social sector agency partners and leaders, and many citizens and groups who have given us very useful feedback. Your inputs have been valuable. I also thank my team in MOF who has been working non-stop since our first Unity Budget this year. The central focus of this Budget is jobs. Large parts of the last three Budgets were directed at protecting the livelihoods of our workers. In this Budget, we will do even more. Today, over 140,000 enterprises employ 1.9 million local employees across various industries. All these enterprises are facing not only immediate challenges but also structural challenges that threaten their survival. Some of our workers will lose their jobs. Some of these jobs will not come back. Other jobs will look different going into the future. Our economy is undergoing a sea change. Even as we navigate through the current storm, we must stay on course and set our direction right to prevail over the challenges ahead. The tripartite structure that has served Singapore so well over the years will need to be reinforced. Each of us must do our part. Businesses need to adapt and transform and workers need to adapt and re-skill. You have my assurance that the Government will provide strong support to bring all parties together to navigate through these turbulent waters. I will cover three inter-related subjects in three parts. First, how we provide timely support to businesses and workers. Second, how we support businesses to transform to secure the future of our workers. Third, how we will help Singaporeans upskill and re-skill to seize opportunities now and in the future.”
“Given the significant changes in the global economy ahead, we will provide support to enable our businesses and workers to adapt, transform and seize new opportunities – to emerge stronger. We aim to enable workers and businesses to go through this difficult period together in a synergistic way. We will also provide additional support to our households and community to cope with the disruptions and seize new opportunities in adversity. This will help us build a stronger and more inclusive society. I will also provide funding to frontline agencies to continue our fight against the pandemic. This will boost our clinical management of cases and our swabbing and testing capabilities. The coming months will test our resolve as a society and as a people. We will need to adapt and stay resolute and resilient amidst a rapidly evolving, uncertain situation. In that light, I have decided to call this the Fortitude Budget – courage in adversity. Together with the Unity, Resilience and Solidarity Budgets, we are dedicating close to $100 billion to support our people in this battle, which is almost 20% of our GDP. This is a landmark package and a necessary response to an unprecedented crisis. Part of this Supplementary Budget also provides $3.8 billion for the measures, including the enhancements to the Jobs Support Scheme announced on 21 April 2020 for the extended circuit breaker period. A distinctive feature of this Budget is that we are setting aside a bigger contingent sum. We are dealing with unprecedented uncertainty across all fronts. A bigger contingent sum will allow us to respond swiftly to fast-changing situations. I will speak more on this later.”
“As we have learnt from the experience of other countries, life will not return to what it was before COVID-19. When we reopen and have more activities and interactions, we are likely to see a rise in community cases. We must therefore be psychologically prepared for setbacks before we safely transition to a new normal and build a COVID-safe nation. Over the coming months as we transition to the next phase, many of our precautionary measures will remain in place. The global economy is unlikely to recover quickly. We must be prepared for tough times in the months ahead. This is a challenge for this generation of Singaporeans. It is a test of our strength and fortitude, a test of our resilience and unity. How we respond will define us as a people. The past few months, especially the circuit breaker, have been tough for everyone. There are worries and anxieties. Some have lost their jobs or suffered pay cuts. Fresh graduates are worried about finding jobs. Mid-career Singaporeans who support both their children and elderly parents are anxious about job stability. Businesses are concerned about cash flow and staying afloat. Families have found it challenging to balance working from home and adapting to home-based learning. COVID-19 has also hit the vulnerable groups in the community. We have seen more families seeking counselling for marital conflicts and family violence. Our path forward will be tough, but we will journey together. Today, I will introduce this $33 billion Supplementary Budget for the next phase of our fight against COVID-19. The central focus of this Budget is jobs. This Budget will continue to support workers and businesses who remain affected by border closures and safe distancing measures.”
“How soon will a vaccine be ready? There is a wide range of views among experts – from five months to beyond 18 months for a viable vaccine. Making the vaccine available globally will also be a huge challenge. The situation is fast-evolving and global efforts at containing the pandemic are uneven and uncoordinated. These uncertainties affect whether and when countries will be able to contain the pandemic successfully. In turn, this affects how far and how fast the global economy can recover. As a small open economy, Singapore's economic outlook depends critically on the state of the global economy. With COVID-19, the global outlook depends on how the global community is able to contain the outbreak. Our economy has been deeply impacted by the global shocks. This morning, the Ministry of Trade and Industry further downgraded Singapore's GDP growth forecast from -4% to -1% to -7% to -4%. Outward-oriented sectors such as manufacturing, wholesale trade and transportation and storage have been affected by both weak external demand and supply chain disruptions. The circuit breaker, which was put in place to bring down community transmission decisively, also affected many businesses that could not operate offsite. Based on preliminary estimates, the resident unemployment rate rose to 3.3% in March 2020 – the highest since December 2009. As announced by the Multi-Ministry Task Force on 19 May, we are preparing to reopen the economy in three phases, guided by public health considerations. As we open up progressively, we will continue to give more support to businesses which are not yet ready to reopen and workers who are still unable to resume work. The key is to reopen safely and this needs to be done carefully.”
“Mr Speaker and Members of this House, this is our fourth Budget this year. I presented the Solidarity Budget in this House seven weeks ago. At that time, there were about 1.1 million cases and 62,000 deaths due to COVID-19 globally. The situation has since deteriorated sharply. Globally, over 5,000,000 people have been infected and over 340,000 lives have been lost. More people are expected to be infected as countries come to grips with what it takes to contain this virus. COVID-19 has disrupted the global economy. Lockdowns and movement restrictions have exerted a huge cost, with major job losses in many economies. In the US, the unemployment rates for April has increased to 14.7%. This is the highest level since the Great Depression. New jobless claims also continue to be high in May. The Eurozone economy is estimated to have contracted 3.8% in the first quarter of 2020 – its sharpest decline on record. The IMF has predicted that Asia will see zero growth in 2020 – the worst growth performance in 60 years. Societies and communities have been severely strained. In some countries, bitter differences over how to deal with the pandemic have deepened societal fault lines. The road ahead is fraught with uncertainties. The key uncertainty arises from the virus itself. There is still much that we do not know about COVID-19. For example, what is the risk of transmission by asymptomatic carriers? Are recovered patients immune to future infections and if so, for how long? Scientists and medical experts are divided. It is also uncertain how the pandemic will evolve in the coming months. Will there be significant mutations of the virus? Will there be a resurgence in infections as restrictions on activities and travel are gradually lifted around the world?”
“The Ministry of Finance recognises the significant challenges faced by firms during this difficult time. As such, various support measures have been introduced through the Unity, Resilience and Solidary Budgets. The Jobs Support Scheme is meant to provide wage support to employers to help them retain their local employees during this period of economic uncertainty. In this regard, all eligible employers who have made CPF contributions for their local employees will qualify for at least 25% wage support. In the Resilience Budget, greater support of up to 75% is provided for sectors that are more significantly and directly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, such as aviation, tourism and food services. In the Solidarity Budget, the support has gone up to 75% for all sectors for the month of April. This has since been extended to include the month of May. In addition, there are also other support for companies. The economic linkages across firms and sectors are intricate, and hence, many firms have been affected by this unprecedented global pandemic. Some firms, as a matter of strategy, may choose to focus their businesses on a particular customer segment and may, as a result, have higher exposure to the harder-hit sectors. We appreciate the challenges that they are facing, and they can submit an appeal for a higher tier of support from the Jobs Support Scheme via IRAS' website. We will assess each appeal on its merits on a case-by-case basis. We encourage firms to take this opportunity to review their business strategies, accelerate their business transformation plans and diversify their revenue sources, as the economic landscape is changing rapidly.”
“Mr Speaker, may I request that Question Number 35 be redirected from the Minister for National Development to me as the Minister for Finance, please. The Government has a total of about 37,700 tenants who will benefit from the rental waivers. We recognise that there may also be sub-tenancies under some of these main or master tenants. This is why the Government requires all master tenants to sign a written undertaking to pass on at least 80% of the rental waiver granted by the Government to eligible sub-tenants, including coffeeshop stallholders. The requirement to pass on at least 80% of the rental waiver took into account that master tenants may have to incur costs for the space, such as maintenance and cleaning. The written undertaking is legally enforceable and agencies can withhold the rental waiver or even take tenancy action as a last resort if the rental waivers are not passed on to the sub-tenants. If Members of this House encounter any sub-tenant who did not receive Government rental waivers passed down from their master tenants, please direct them to notify the landlord agency who will assist to enforce the rental waiver pass-through.”
“I thank the Member for the follow-up question. For LTVP and LTVP+, we have in our system different sets of support for various schemes for different groups of people, one of them being their residential status. So, we need some clear alignment of this. Therefore, this is a way that we are aligning this, with existing schemes that we have. Bear in mind that this support is for a very urgent situation and therefore, we have extended it to a wide range. There are already many support schemes, as I have said. The assurance that I would like to give Mr Murali is that, as I have said, if families need support, they can approach our Social Service Agencies and many other service agencies that are providing this support. No one will be denied support just because of this particular status.”
“The Solidarity Payment is aimed at providing timely support to Singaporean households during this challenging period of heightened safe distancing. Arising from concerns over some Singaporean families with non-citizen members, we decided to extend the one-off $300 payment to Permanent Residents and LTVP+ holders who have a Singaporean parent, spouse or child. While Long-Term Visit Pass (LTVP) holders who are spouses of Singaporeans are not eligible for the Solidarity Payment, they are able to take up employment to support their families. They also receive benefits as part of a Singaporean household, such as GST Voucher – U-Save rebates and special payments, and Service and Conservancy Charges rebates. If they or their Singaporean family need further financial support during this challenging period, they may seek help through their MSF Social Service Offices, which provide assistance to those who fall into financial hardship. The assistance provided includes the COVID-19 Support Grant. We will exercise more flexibility when considering ComCare applications during this period, to ensure affected Singaporean families can get help. There are also many Social Service Agencies and those in the community providing support to families in need.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, the Jobs Support Scheme (JSS) is designed to support employers to retain their local employees. As such, it previously did not cover the wages of business owners, who are both shareholders and directors of a company or shareholder-directors. We have since received feedback from some shareholder-directors, especially from smaller companies and start-ups. Although they receive support through the JSS for their employees’ wages, their own personal wages formed a significant portion of their companies’ wage bills but were not covered by the JSS. They also did not qualify for the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme. We recognise the challenges faced by these shareholders-directors. We have therefore reviewed our policy to include their wages under the Jobs Support Scheme. By supporting them, we hope that these shareholder-directors will be able to retain their own wages and livelihoods, just as we would like them to retain their local employees. At the same time, by setting an assessable income criterion of $100,000, we can better target the JSS support at shareholder-directors who need the support more. We estimate that this enhancement will benefit about 50,000 shareholder-directors. The May 2020 and subsequent JSS payouts will include support for qualifying shareholder-directors. The May 2020 payout will also include back-payment for companies with qualifying shareholder-directors who were excluded from the first JSS payout in April 2020.”
“I thank Ms Foo for her question. As to what the banks would do, as I have announced, the MAS has been getting the financial system together to provide a whole range of support including a Singapore dollar facility and the conditions for using the facility. So, this will take some time for them to sort it out. But I believe that, as I said before, if we are in this together and it is in the interest of the banks to provide support for their lenders just as in the interest of landlords to provide the support. While at the same time, of course, adhering to the risk management that they have always been practising. But this is an extraordinary time and I believe that this will be worked out between the banks, MAS and the borrowers.”
“I thank Mr Louis Ng for your questions. You have asked four rather technical questions. And as I said, this Budget has been prepared in a record time. So, there will be details that the different Ministries will announce later and this will be sorted out by the different Ministries.”
“I can tell you that even in presenting this Budget, when making the Government's case to the President and the Council Presidential Advisers, I spent a lot of time explaining the details and I can tell you that the President and CPA asked very, very good questions, much more than systems that I have seen elsewhere. And certainly much better than the debts that have been incurred in so many other countries. So, let us do this carefully, Mr Singh.”
“Mr Speaker, Sir, first, for Mr Singh, I am glad that he supports the importance of our reserves and he asked first, "Are we spending too much or not enough?" And as I have said earlier, it is right and proper that we debate the Budget in this House, which is what we have been doing. He referred to the Business Times article and said, "Can we spend some of it to improve the livelihoods of our people?" We have our spending rules in the form of the Net Investment Returns Contribution (NIRC), and the NIRC, is as I had indicated in my previous Budget Statement is now the single largest component of spending, more than corporate income tax, more than personal income tax; in fact, more than GST and in fact, more than any other category of taxes. So, do we have proper spending rules? Yes. I recall Mr Singh asking, "Why not spend more?" This was debated in the House when the spending rules came about earlier on and when we increased the spending by including Temasek into the overall framework. So, Mr Singh can just check the number that we have been spending from NIRC over the years, and that would tell him how much we are spending. Mr Singh also alluded to whether there are proper checks and balances. And this is exactly what our Elected Presidency is about. Let me share with this House that before I table a Supply Bill in Parliament, I first have to inform the President as to whether I will be touching the past reserves. And when the Auditor-General has completed his audit, I have to sign, in my name, a letter to the President, confirming whether the Government had touched the past reserves in the last Budget. So, the checks and balances that we have in our system have been very rigorously designed and very well observed.”
“We will get through this together. Let us stand united, resilient and in solidarity. Singapore together, Majulah forever! [Applause.]”
“Earlier, we launched the Singapore Together movement and set up the Emerging Stronger Taskforce. We will continue to work on areas, such as research and development (R&D), economic transformation, skills training and improving social cohesion to prepare for the future. Our pioneers have encountered many turbulences during nation building. They have toiled together to overcome various challenges. Similarly, this current crisis will have a profound impact on our generation. So long as we stay united, protect our health, jobs, enterprises, livelihoods and secure our future, we will overcome this crisis. When our children and grandchildren look back on this moment, they will see how this generation has stood United, Resilient, and in Solidarity to overcome this crisis together and emerged stronger. (In English): I will now conclude in English. We have managed to weather this crisis so far because of our world-class healthcare system, our strong finances, our administrative capacity, our strong tripartite partnership and most importantly, our exceptional people. These were not built overnight. These require long-term planning, deliberate investment, stewardship of resources and careful build-up of capabilities. This is only possible because of the values that this Government and our people have upheld across generations, which has allowed us to fight the crisis from a position of strength. These are the values of discipline, prudence and long-term thinking. The journey ahead to the end of this crisis will likely still be long and uncertain. But my team and I will continue to stay vigilant and partner Singaporeans and people around the world. Difficult decisions will need to be made during this period and so, we will do so with Singaporeans' interests at heart.”
“Our reserves are like the trees planted by our ancestors. Today, these trees can not only shade us during sunny days, but also shield us from thunderstorms. This has enabled us to deal with the imminent challenges without having to borrow and leaving the next generation debt-laden. The Government will do its best, but I hope that everyone will also do his part, mutually support each other to overcome this crisis. In the past two months, our healthcare workers, the Home Team and frontline workers have been working tirelessly around the clock to fight this virus. We would like to thank them for their hard work and contributions. This is a critical moment for all of us to join them on the frontline. Every Singaporean must be socially responsible. We must not do three things: do not panic, do not go out and do not spread rumours. We keep emphasising these because these are important means to curb the spread of the virus and protect our people. If we unwittingly get infected and subsequently infect our family members and friends, causing them to lose their health or even life, then we will be left with only deep regrets. In the workplace, businesses should also take care of their workers and retain jobs. COVID-19 is relentless but there is warmth in society. Various charitable organisations, IPCs, self-help groups and volunteers have all extended a helping hand to people in need. With the ongoing outbreak, I hope that more Singaporeans can step forward and show that we care. We have built deep mutual trust between our leaders and the people over the years. People trust the current Government, allowing us to implement measures to ensure their safety. I hope that Singaporeans will continue to work with the Government and strengthen the Singapore Spirit.”
“] To deal with the COVID-19 outbreak, we announced three Budgets within a short span of two months. The amount committed is unprecedented. The purpose is to protect enterprises, protect jobs and secure our future. The measures to deal with the COVID-19 outbreak is worth about $60 billion, which makes up about 12% of our Gross Domestic Product (GDP), and the accumulated fiscal deficit is $44.3 billion. COVID-19 is the gravest challenge for our generation. The healthcare, economic and social fronts are interacting in complex ways. It is very hard to predict what is going to happen. As such, we have introduced decisive and wide-ranging measures. For example, in order to protect enterprises, we introduced property tax and rental rebates to help enterprises cut their cost; to protect jobs, we introduced the Jobs Support Scheme to help enterprises cope with cash flow problems and avoid retrenching their local employees. In addition, we have also introduced the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS) to help the self-employed. We have also enhanced the Care and Support Package to lighten the burden of cost of living for our people. Because the outbreak is still evolving, we will make adjustments along the way, based on public feedback and as the situation develops. Today, we have the ability to deal decisively with this outbreak because the Singapore Government has been saving for rainy days and practising fiscal prudence for years. The Government has fiscal surplus and we also have the reserves to back us up. The Government has obtained in-principle support from President Halimah to tap on as much as $21 billion from our reserves. Here, I would like to express my gratitude to the President. Earlier, I mentioned the Chinese saying "前人种树，后人乘凉".”
“Members such as Dr Chia Shi-Lu and Ms Tin Pei Ling have also come forward to urge us not to spend in an unbridled fashion from the reserves, even in today's situation. Indeed, as we draw down on our reserves to tackle this generational crisis of unprecedented scale, we must uphold our responsibility to steward our reserves properly in our time for the benefit of our future generations. Yesterday, Minister Khaw Boon Wan shared the story of his Primary 2 granddaughter who have been urging his wife and their helper to put on masks and to observe safe distancing. And less than 24 hours ago, when I was here in this Chamber delivering the Solidarity Budget, a young mother was at home watching it live together with her daughter. The mother later wrote to me saying that, afterwards, her daughter asked her, "Will Singapore become bankrupt?" I was surprised and glad that her daughter and Minister Khaw's granddaughter could understand such values at such a young age. As adults, let us uphold our values and not let our children and future generations down. It is precisely for them that my team and I are determined to exercise fiscal discipline and prudence. The mother who wrote to me asked for an answer for her daughter. Will Singapore become bankrupt? No. We will never let Singapore become bankrupt. The Spanish Flu occurred in 1918 and COVID-19, in 2019. A hundred years from now, should there be another unprecedented crisis, will Singapore have the wherewithal to tackle it? It depends critically on the values of our people, and I am grateful to Singaporeans like Ms Tan for reminding us all of our responsibility. Mr Speaker, Sir, before I conclude, allow me to say a few words in Mandarin. (In Mandarin): [Please refer to Vernacular Speech.”