(Singapore, Mar 11, 2020) The Singaporean government is working on a second stimulus package as with the worsening global coronavirus situation, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said today.
Addressing the Budget 2020 Roundtable, the DPM, who is also Finance Minister, said that the additional stimulus will be aimed at helping workers keep their jobs just as what the $4 billion package announced in the Budget on Feb 18 does.
Also, the new package will better help small and medium-sized enterprises make the best of the crisis, and support workers who are retrenched.
“Our topmost concern is workers, because if our workers can keep their jobs, consumption can resume and life can take place as normally as possible,” he said as quoted by The Straits Times, one of the round-table’s organizers.
Heng also said that uncertainty has grown in global financial markets in recent weeks, as the virus has spread to major economies such as the United States and European Union.
“We need to look at this whole model to see how we can strengthen it better, so that when you have a downturn like this, they can be better protected,” he added.
Asked if Singapore will consider tapping its past reserves, the DPM said: “Our reserves have been set aside to meet the needs of a rainy day, and it looks like this rain is not a light one… So we will have to look at what we need to do.”
“We will have to discuss this very carefully, as we did during the global financial crisis,” said Heng, noting that the outbreak has revealed certain needs of the global economy.
