"Budget 2016 focuses on economic transformation, building a caring society - CNA 24 Mar 2016
SINGAPORE: Drawing on the theme of partnership, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat delivered his inaugural Budget statement on Thursday (Mar 24), with a strong focus on continuing the transformation of the Singapore economy, while ensuring that society also remains caring and resilient.
Measures announced by the Government included economic measures aimed at addressing immediate cyclical weaknesses, but also significant economy-wide initiatives aimed at transforming industries through innovation and enterprise. Targeted at helping industries find new areas of growth, the Minister said that the entire package of initiatives, called the Industry Transformation Programme, would amount to S$4.5 billion.
Social policies announced in the Minister’s speech centred on forging greater partnerships to build on the Government’s social support schemes, to encourage collective responsibility involving individuals, the community and the Government.
New initiatives were also announced, targeted at supporting younger Singaporeans, disabled workers, as well as seniors, through implementation of the Silver Support Scheme.
In line with earlier hints at prudence in his first Budget, the Minister announced that even as overall expenditure will be S$5 billion higher than the last financial year, he expected an overall budget surplus of S$3.4 billion in the first year of the new term of Government.
KEY FOCUS AREAS
Mr Heng outlined the Government's focus areas to meet challenges today:
Minister Heng's 1st Budget. Of historical significance from his personal standpoint. Of what significance to the intended beneficiaries would be the more difficult question to answer!
1. suffice to say that the government has finally accepted that spending on health for the aged is unavoidable and cannot solely be dependent on the aged's children, if any, as they have their own lives to live!
At the same time, I TRULY want the government to think about 'how to keep costs down'. It can only be achieved if we have GOOD preventive healthy lifestyle mind-set and practices ingrained in our people while reminding ourselves that after a certain level of wealth 'less is more'!;
2. 'investment in education' - I like to know why each school built cost more than a million? what has changed vs. the good old day of simple school compounds and best teachers/students ratio? What do we mean by 'an educated person'? Is it one who aced all his/her examinations through countless hours of private tuition in addition to exhausting school works? What about doing house chores instead of relying on hired maids?;
3. security - this one, I guessed, cannot be less as it is supposedly the only reason why we had not been bullied! I think we are going beyond just our defence forces. It now extends to counter-terrorism, counter-intelligence, total defence, etc. Keeping imported terrorists OUT will need a lot of investment in scanning equipment and manual job seeker!
As for transformation of industries or selected segments of a selected industry, it truly depends on the stakeholders themselves. NO ONE can be dictated to to become a successful and sustainable business person! There are definitely tons of money for training. It will be interesting to follow how EFFECTIVE these billions will produce!!
SINGAPORE: Drawing on the theme of partnership, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat delivered his inaugural Budget statement on Thursday (Mar 24), with a strong focus on continuing the transformation of the Singapore economy, while ensuring that society also remains caring and resilient.
Measures announced by the Government included economic measures aimed at addressing immediate cyclical weaknesses, but also significant economy-wide initiatives aimed at transforming industries through innovation and enterprise. Targeted at helping industries find new areas of growth, the Minister said that the entire package of initiatives, called the Industry Transformation Programme, would amount to S$4.5 billion.
Social policies announced in the Minister’s speech centred on forging greater partnerships to build on the Government’s social support schemes, to encourage collective responsibility involving individuals, the community and the Government.
New initiatives were also announced, targeted at supporting younger Singaporeans, disabled workers, as well as seniors, through implementation of the Silver Support Scheme.
In line with earlier hints at prudence in his first Budget, the Minister announced that even as overall expenditure will be S$5 billion higher than the last financial year, he expected an overall budget surplus of S$3.4 billion in the first year of the new term of Government.
KEY FOCUS AREAS
Mr Heng outlined the Government's focus areas to meet challenges today:
The Finance Minister also laid out the spending landscape for three key areas:
- ECONOMY: Invest in building stronger enterprises and nurture innovative industries
- PEOPLE: Invest in education and health
- HOME: Invest for better liveability and connectivity
- SECURITY: Invest more in intelligence, operational capabilities, technology and systems
Expenditures will grow to meet Singapore’s many needs, but GDP growth will slow as economy, workforce matures, Finance Minister Heng said."
- Education spending is expected to be S$12.8 billion, almost double what it was 10 years ago
- Healthcare spending is expected to be S$11 billion, an almost six-fold increase from a decade ago
- Transport spending is expected to hit S$10.1 billion, more than 5 times a decade ago
Minister Heng's 1st Budget. Of historical significance from his personal standpoint. Of what significance to the intended beneficiaries would be the more difficult question to answer!
1. suffice to say that the government has finally accepted that spending on health for the aged is unavoidable and cannot solely be dependent on the aged's children, if any, as they have their own lives to live!
At the same time, I TRULY want the government to think about 'how to keep costs down'. It can only be achieved if we have GOOD preventive healthy lifestyle mind-set and practices ingrained in our people while reminding ourselves that after a certain level of wealth 'less is more'!;
2. 'investment in education' - I like to know why each school built cost more than a million? what has changed vs. the good old day of simple school compounds and best teachers/students ratio? What do we mean by 'an educated person'? Is it one who aced all his/her examinations through countless hours of private tuition in addition to exhausting school works? What about doing house chores instead of relying on hired maids?;
3. security - this one, I guessed, cannot be less as it is supposedly the only reason why we had not been bullied! I think we are going beyond just our defence forces. It now extends to counter-terrorism, counter-intelligence, total defence, etc. Keeping imported terrorists OUT will need a lot of investment in scanning equipment and manual job seeker!
As for transformation of industries or selected segments of a selected industry, it truly depends on the stakeholders themselves. NO ONE can be dictated to to become a successful and sustainable business person! There are definitely tons of money for training. It will be interesting to follow how EFFECTIVE these billions will produce!!
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