On or about 2 December 2019, the Second Minister for Finance Indranee Rajah in an interview with CNA938’s morning show Asia First talked about the upcoming budget addressing Singapore’s current needs, as well as position for the future.
She commented on the impact on Singapore with ongoing issues such as Brexit and trade tensions between the United States and China.
The Budget [2020] needs to address the current needs but also focus on the future. The Minister encouraged firms to look into three areas such as innovation, regional expansion and building capability.
On the issue of helping workers upgrade themselves, the government will continue to support employers and employees in future, said the Minister. While previous Budgets have had provisions for helping workers upgrade themselves, the financial crisis of 2008 that emphasised the need to train workers than laying them off.
It was noted by the Minister that the same attitude could not be applied as jobs as rapidly evolving and workers have to adapt accordingly. The government wants to help businesses with the cost of providing constant training but does not want such support to be a “permanent subsidy of wages”.
The Minister noted that the Government is also looking at how the Budget can best support the needs of older workers, as well as families with children at different levels.
Ms Indranee stated the Government seeks to grow the number of jobs and provide employment to the maximum number of people.
Source: CNA, 2 December 2019