S'pore came through pandemic well without overspending: DPM

It did well in saving lives, livelihoods relative to other countries, says Lawrence Wong

- Natasha Ann

Singapore fared well in saving both lives and livelihoods relative to other countries during the Covid-19 pandemic, and did so without spending excessively, Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said on Tuesday.

Key to that was the trust that Singaporeans had in the Government to make the right decisions, and in one another, so as to endure the tough measures needed to tide the country over the crisis, he added.

In his closing speech on the Covid-19 White Paper debate, Mr Wong noted that Singapore's Covid-19 mortality rate of 300 deaths per million was a fifth of Germany's and 10 times lower than that of the United States, which had 2,980 deaths per million people.

The economy also bounced back quickly to pre-Covid-19 levels by 2021, with the employment rate today even higher than before the pandemic.

"You can use different indicators to track this, but it is quite clear that our recovery was faster compared to many others," said Mr Wong, who is also finance minister.

Other achievements were not so easily quantified but no less important, he added. These included keeping schools open, businesses afloat, unemployment low and supply chains open throughout the crisis.