Senior Minister Goh Chok Tong said this year’s Budget is strategically important as it is a "transformational" Budget, although it may be seen as "unexciting" to some Singaporeans.
He also said that the Budget aims to bring the economy to a higher level.
Addressing an audience of grassroots leaders and residents at a dialogue session at his Marine Parade constituency, Mr. Goh said that productivity needs to follow suit, including that of foreign workers, in order to raise incomes.
As the government expects no recession this year, Mr. Goh said they decided against giving out too many goodies this year.
Moreover, households will continue to have benefits from the last year’s policies.
“When I read comments that the Budget has got nothing for me as a person, rather than a few of the allowances and so on, they are wrong. This Budget is for you. It is about how we can increase our productivity as a whole – you as a worker, the company as a production institution, the management as the people-in-charge,” said Mr. Goh.
“If we can transform the economy through the measures introduced in the Budget, the income we have today can continue to increase.”
Mr. Goh and his panel, comprising MPs Lim Biow Chuan and Dr. Fatimah Lateef, addressed several issues including more relief and tax incentives for those who support the disabled and elderly family members.
Asked about the government’s confidence in achieving its aim of annual productivity growth from two to three percent, Mr. Goh said: “At this stage I can’t say with full confidence that we can achieve 3 percent growth per year, but it’s a target which we want to aim at. If we don’t achieve it, well it’s bad but let’s say we double it from 1 to 2 percent. That’s an improvement. It means your income goes up, but much less than what we hope would be the case.”
Mr. Goh said that it is not possible to tackle all the issues in one Budget statement, and that this year’s plan deals with the long-term.
However, many of the issues are on the radar screen of the government, and details of initiatives will be released in Parliament.