SINGAPORE - Budget 2020 will be a comprehensive one that helps companies and workers transform, supports families in coping with the cost of living and caregiving needs, and ensures environmental and financial sustainability, Ms Indranee Rajah said.
In an interview with Singapore Press Holdings radio station Money FM 89.3, she said the Government had started off the year expecting steady growth."But the new coronavirus situation will have a global impact, and this is something we have to take into account," she said. Recalling measures taken during the Sars period in 2003, she noted the Government had come up with a response package to help hotels and the tourism sector. Six years later during the global financial crisis, it used the slowdown to retrain workers.
"Many small and medium-sized enterprises know it's important to tap the digital economy, but they have to decide which products to choose and how to make sense of all the things in the market. So we want to look at packages that will help them make those choices," she said. Companies will also have incentives to employ older workers, as well as to give them flexible working hours.
From the social sector, there have been calls to better support the vulnerable, disadvantaged and retired.