The emergence of Wuhan corona-virus has put a spin to the Budget 2020 with more focus now on how resources may be used instead for business support measures.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing alluded to such a support package, citing examples of measures taken in 2003 during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) outbreak. At that time, a SARS relief package of S$230m in 2013 in the form of property tax rebates, training grants, bridging loan programmes and a reduction in foreign worker levy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Although, 17 years after SARS, the Singapore\u2019s socio-economic environment could call for a different prescription of how any potential Wuhan Virus support package would take shape.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Introducing the 50% reduction in foreign worker levy for unskilled workers employed by gazetted tourist hotels which came when there was a more relaxed foreign manpower policy, into the corona-virus relief package would contradict the Government\u2019s resolve to cut businesses\u2019 reliance on foreign labour.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Also, a training grant, whether for tourism-related courses or otherwise, which falls in line with the Government\u2019s push for re-skilling and up-skilling would benefit employees along with companies in keeping their staff occupied and employed during the downtime.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Property tax rebates for commercial properties and hotels would help alleviate business costs. However, the reach of such rebates could be limited to property owners, unless the savings are passed to tenants. At that time, the HDB passed these rebates to its commercial tenants, but many retailers and F&B operators rent from private commercial property owners.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Finally, a bridging loan programme would be a welcome relief for small and medium-sized enterprises as cash-flow problems could be aggravated during difficult times.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It is useful to maintain perspective on the situation as infection numbers and the ensuing death tolls rise daily. The fatality rate of the Wuhan virus is about 2%, compared with 10% for that of SARS. While it would be a while before the virus is contained, it is too early to say whether this outbreak will be more severe or even as serious as SARS.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Budget 2020 would be an opportune time to introduce the package, but the Government may take a more prudent, wait-and-see approach while building it up incrementally and in a targeted fashion only if the situation worsens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It will also keep its focus on the long term, even while it tackles near-term pressures. This means that companies that have been struggling to stay viable, not just because of current external headwinds and geopolitical uncertainties but also structural changes, will still have to confront the challenge of transforming their business models even when obtaining short-term relief.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Source: Business Times, 31 January 2020<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The emergence of Wuhan corona-virus has put a spin to the Budget 2020 with more focus now on how resources may be used instead for business support measures. Trade and Industry Minister Chan Chun Sing alluded to such a support package, citing examples of measures taken in 2003 during the severe acute respiratory syndrome (SARS) […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","_et_pb_use_builder":"off","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8,6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1527","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-incometax","category-techupdates"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1527"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1528,"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1527\/revisions\/1528"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1527"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1527"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/ehluar.com\/main\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1527"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}