Singapore's "Unity" Budget 2020

On the back of an economic slow-down made worse by the Covid-19 virus epidemic, this year's budget was highly expected to give a significant boost to the ailing Singapore economy. ​And with the largest budget deficit in ten years of S$10.9B, it can be said that this was what it sought out to do.

A summary of the measures can be found in the table below (source : Ministry of Finance) :

Singapore 2020 Budget Summary

Apart from the belated "ang bao" ($100-$300 cash) to every Singaporean,the following three initiatives in the Budget are of the greatest impact to businesses:
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1. Sending Coal In The Midst of Harsh Winter (雪中送炭)
The businesses hit by the ongoing epidemic are largely in tourism, food & beverage and transport industries. So it is heartening to see the Budget giving relief to these sectors through the following measures :​

Although rental and property tax rebates does not seem like much compared to an outright cash rebate, it is still some measure of relief to affected businesses..​​

2. Other Band Aids
There are also other measures tailored to support workers and enterprises :

• Jobs Support Scheme - one-off 8% wage support to help enterprises retain local workers
• Wage Credit Schemes enhanced and extended to help businesses help their workers
• Adapt and Grow redevelopment programmes to help businesses retain and reskill local workers
• Temporary cash flow support through enhanced SME Working Capital Loans
• 25% Corporate Income Tax Rebate for YA2020, capped at $15,000.

These measures are also expected to help alleviate cash flow issues faced by businesses.

3. Seizing Opportunities
Chinese believe that there is opportunity in a crisis ("危机") and Singapore is sizing up opportunities arising from the following trends :

• De-globalisation
• Global economic pivot to Asia
• Advancement of Digital Age

These measures in this year's Budget will help Singapore to be ready when the opportunities avail themselves :

• SMEs Go Digital programme to drive greater adoption of digital technology
• Enhanced Market Readiness Assistance to help more enterprises enter new markets
• Additional $500 - $1,000 Skills Future Credit top-up 

While it's true that some of the measures are not as significant when compared to those implemented during the SARS crisis, this is a reflection that the current crisis is not considered to be as bad as SARS, Should this not be the case, the G has reserved enough gas in the tank to implement more measures.