Record $143b Budget Passed; Singapore's Prudent Fiscal Policy Lets It Plan Ahead: Indranee

Minister says 12 Budgets passed since 2020 have helped Singapore rebound, chart new path

- Goh Yan Han

Parliament unanimously passed on March 10 a record $143.1 billion spending plan, the last Budget of the current term of government.

Rounding up two weeks of debate, Leader of the House Indranee Rajah recapped the 12 Budgets that were passed between 2020 and 2025, which included supplementary budgets and ministerial statements on support measures during the pandemic years.

While every term of government has its fair share of ups and downs, this term was "more like a roller coaster", said Ms Indranee, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister's Office.

In 2020 and 2021, Singapore had to battle the crisis of a generation in the Covid-19 pandemic. It then had to adjust to the post-pandemic world, and barely had time to catch its breath before it had to grapple with the impact of wars in Europe and the Middle East, she added.

"While all this was going on, we simultaneously had to work on sharpening our competitive edge, refreshing our social compact, and positioning ourselves for the future," said Ms Indranee, as she recounted the "unprecedented number" of Budgets the Government brought before Parliament over this period.

She recalled the "dark and bleak" start to the 14th Parliament, when Singapore was still not fully out of lockdown and did not yet have vaccines.

The Budgets passed in 2020—including the Unity, Resilience, Solidarity and Fortitude Budgets—and those in 2021 enabled Singapore to mount a strong public health response, secure early access to vaccines and protect both lives and livelihoods, said Ms Indranee, who cited the Jobs Support Scheme and the Self-Employed Person Income Relief Scheme.

"The Budgets of this period also gave us the fiscal firepower to be agile and adaptive throughout that unpredictable and volatile period," she noted.