DPM Heng Swee Keat to deliver ministerial statement on additional support for S’poreans in response to Covid-19
Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat will deliver a ministerial statement this Thursday (March 26) on the Government’s additional support measures for workers, businesses and households in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
SINGAPORE — Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat will deliver a ministerial statement on Thursday (March 26) on the Government’s additional support measures for workers, businesses and households in response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The statement will be delivered at noon in Parliament.
In a media statement on Monday, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said that the full ministerial statement will be published on the Singapore Budget website after delivery. There will also be live television and radio coverage of the Ministerial Statement.
Mr Heng, who is also Minister for Finance, had earlier unveiled two special packages totalling S$5.6 billion to help firms and workers — as well as households — during this year’s Budget statement earlier in February.
They comprise a S$4 billion Stabilisation and Support Package that contained a range of measures to cushion the blow of Covid-19 on local businesses and workers, as well as a S$1.6 billion Care and Support Package to help households with the cost of living.
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riting on Facebook, Mr Heng said this is the first time that the Government is introducing a supplementary budget “so soon after the main budget, reflecting how fast the situation has deteriorated over the past weeks”.
“Covid-19 is spreading across the globe, and the situation is changing swiftly. No one can foretell the future, but as long as we stay alert and dynamic, we can adapt to the rapidly evolving situation,” he said.
“We will keep you safe, preserve jobs and livelihoods, as well as help viable enterprises stay strong,” Mr Heng further assured Singaporeans.
The initial two packages had dwarfed the S$230 million package introduced during the severe acute respiratory syndrome crisis in 2003.
The Government then said that it had started working on a second stimulus package as both the global economy and Covid-19 outbreak have worsened since the first package was announced.
Mr Heng had also previously said that the second stimulus package will include specific measures to help those who are retrenched, as well as ways to better support self-employed people who have been affected by Covid-19.
There will also be help for small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to tide through the immediate economic challenges, while making use of the downturn to strengthen their capabilities, Mr Heng said previously.
