Comment: Budget 2021 is still about Covid-19 but more about the future mothership.sg - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from mothership.sg Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
Trade associations and chambers, the labour movement and industry experts in Singapore gave their immediate take on the Budget speech delivered yesterday.. Read more at straitstimes.com.
The New Paper
TNP ILLUSTRATION: CHNG CHOON HIONG
The main points in Singapore s recovery plan from the Covid-19 crisis
1 BOOSTING COVID-19 DEFENCES
An $11 billion Covid-19 Resilience Package will focus on immediate and ongoing recovery efforts to tackle the pandemic.
Of this sum, $4.8 billion goes towards public health and safe reopening measures, including testing, clinical management and contact tracing, and vaccination for everyone living in Singapore.
Another $700 million goes to extending the Jobs Support Scheme to help firms retain workers, but support will gradually taper off. The hardest-hit sectors, such as aviation and tourism that now get 50 per cent wage support, will see this lowered to 30 per cent for April to June, and 10 per cent for July to September. Sectors like food services and retail, currently getting 30 per cent support, will see this reduced to 10 per cent for April to June.
The government plans to hire more than 200,000 locals and provide up to 35,000 traineeship and training opportunities
The Singapore government announced its Budget 2021 aimed at helping families, workers and businesses weather the Covid-19 pandemic.
There was a big focus in the budget on digital transformation and upskilling workers to prepare for the shift to digital, which has been accelerated by the pandemic.
“As a small, open economy, Singapore’s economic recovery is contingent on how the global situation plays out. Not everything is within our control. We need to adapt nimbly to the wide range of possible outcomes,” said Singapore’s deputy prime minister and finance minister Heng Swee Keat.