A Budget to achieve ‘an inclusive society, a stronger Singapore’

THE Government trained its sights firmly on long-term challenges, mapping out a Budget to steer Singapore on a path to becoming a more inclusive and stronger society.

Targeted measures were rolled out to tackle – and in some cases, pre-empt – emerging problems that could thwart that vision.

And so, older workers worried about money for retirement will have their Central Provident Fund (CPF) accounts boosted with higher contributions.

Companies that could become casualties as Singapore strives to become less reliant on foreign workers will be nudged with higher cash incentives to improve productivity.

Poor families at risk of being stuck in a poverty trap will benefit from a new permanent scheme – a “GST Voucher” to help them with utility and medical bills as well as daily expenses.

Those hoping for mass-based goodies all round were however left disappointed – there were none.

As Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said several times in a nearly two-hour speech in Parliament, the 2012 Budget is focused on addressing Singapore’s longer-term challenges. “It is a Budget for the future,” said the Finance Minister.

The Budget, the first since the general election in May last year, also has the Government taking bold steps to assuage frustrations that simmered during and after the hustings: infrastructural bottlenecks.

There will be more buses on the roads and more hospital beds.

Except for a moment of levity as Tharman sought to describe ang hoon – Hokkien for rolled cigarettes, which will attract higher duties – it was a serious speech sketching out a vision of how the Budget would help achieve “an inclusive society, a stronger Singapore.”

Parliament will sit on Feb 28 to debate the Budget. — The Straits Times / Asia News Network