City-state launches stimulatory 'Unity Budget' to stave off a coronavirus caused recession and pre-election political fallout
Nile Bowie is a journalist and correspondent with the Asia Times covering current affairs in Singapore and Malaysia. He can be reached at nilebowie@gmail.com.
Singapore had earlier viewed the start of a new decade as an opportunity to rebound from last year’s anemic growth that nearly knocked the city-state into recession. Then came the coronavirus, or Covid-19, curveball.
The global health emergency is quickly evolving into an economic one which has sent Singapore’s political leadership scrambling to devise countervailing stimulus measures to mitigate the fallout, significantly as the nation enters an election cycle.
With the unveiling of a so-called “Unity Budget” earlier this week that includes an S$800 million (US$575 million) virus containment package, Singapore’s prime minister-in-waiting, Heng Swee Keat, appears at first blush to have stuck the landing.
“We will put in every effort to slow down the spread of the virus,” said Heng, who is currently finance minister, upon delivering a more than two-hour budget statement in Parliament. The 58-year-old is set to become Singapore’s next leader as the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) prepares to hand power to a cadre of younger ministers soon after the next polls.
The global health emergency is quickly evolving into an economic one which has sent Singapore’s political leadership scrambling to devise countervailing stimulus measures to mitigate the fallout, significantly as the nation enters an election cycle.
With the unveiling of a so-called “Unity Budget” earlier this week that includes an S$800 million (US$575 million) virus containment package, Singapore’s prime minister-in-waiting, Heng Swee Keat, appears at first blush to have stuck the landing.
“We will put in every effort to slow down the spread of the virus,” said Heng, who is currently finance minister, upon delivering a more than two-hour budget statement in Parliament. The 58-year-old is set to become Singapore’s next leader as the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) prepares to hand power to a cadre of younger ministers soon after the next polls.
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