This Fortitude Budget will commit a total of S$33 billion to support the next phase of our fight against Covid-19, and to position ourselves to emerge stronger, Mr Heng says.
Together with the Unity, Resilience and Solidarity Budgets, the Government will be dedicating close to $100 billion or 19.2% of our GDP, to support Singaporeans in this battle.
He adds that 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, he says.
Second Draw On Past Reserves
This Fortitude Budget will be funded out of past reserves, Mr Heng says, adding that this is the second draw on past reserves this financial year.
The Government has always upheld the principle that our Past Reserves are to be used only in exceptional circumstances, he says.
For the Unity, Resilience and Solidarity Budgets, the Goverment has almost all the 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 our past reserves, he adds.
The President has given her in-principle support for a further draw of $31 billion from our past reserves to fund the measures in this Budget.
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, he adds.
Featured Image Credit: The Online Citizen
