Singapore Budget 2020
On 18 February 2020, Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister Mr Heng Swee Keat announced a special package amounting to S$4 billion, with a slew of measures to help local workers and businesses through these trying times in face of Covid-19 global outbreak. With guidance from your economics tutor Singapore in economics tuition Singapore, explain the possible implications of Covid-19 outbreak on the Singapore economy. You may sign up for economics tuition Singapore with a good economics tutor Singapore should you like to improve your grades for this subject.
Measures To Help Local Workers And Employers
Part of the money will be used to fund the Jobs Support Scheme and Wage Credit Scheme. The S$1.3 billion Jobs Support Scheme offers local employers eight per cent of the wages of 1.9 million Singapore citizens and permanent residents, subject to a monthly cap of S$3,600 for each such worker. The Wage Credit Scheme supports qualifying wage increases for Singaporeans. Under this scheme, employers will receive payouts from government equivalent to 20 per cent of qualifying wages increases for their Singaporean employees in 2019 and 15 per cent in 2020. The gross monthly wage ceiling will be raised from the current S$4,000 to S$5,000 to benefit more Singaporean workers. Some 90,000 local workers are expected to benefit from this S$1.1 billion enhanced scheme. In discussion with your economics tutor Singapore in your economics tuition Singapore class, compare the cost and benefit of these two schemes. You may also consult your economics tutor Singapore in economics tuition Singapore about the need to have both schemes.
The government will also offer hiring incentive for employers who hire locals aged 40 years and above through the Job Reskilling Programmes. The incentive is capped at 20 per cent of a monthly salary of up to S$6,000 for each local employee, for a period of six months. To learn more about the Job Reskilling Programmes, please sign up for economics tuition Singapore with Mr Edmund Quek, principal economics tutor Singapore of Economics Cafe Learning Centre, the best economics tuition centre in Singapore. The economics tuition centre is located within walking distance from the Bishan MRT Station.
The special package also includes a S$400 million corporate income tax rebate for year of assessment 2020, at 25 per cent of tax payable, capped at S$15,000 for each company. In addition, the Enterprise Financing Scheme will provide the much-needed funding support for local companies. Under this scheme, the loan ceiling is doubled to S$600,000 from the current S$300,000. You may discuss with your economics tutor Singapore in your economics tuition class other possible measures the government could have introduced to help local worker and their employers.
Measures To Support Affected Sectors
The government has pledged additional support for sectors taken a direct hit from the coronavirus outbreak. These sectors include tourism, retail and transport, among others. For the tourism sector, the government will give a property tax rebate of 30 per cent for 2020. Eligible companies in the tourism sector can also look forward to a temporary bridging loan of up to S$1 million at a moderate interest rate of no more than five per cent per annum. In consultation with your economics tutor Singapore in economics tuition Singapore, evaluate the impact of these measures on the affected sectors.
For the retail sector, the government has urged landlords to pass on the 15 per cent property tax rebate to their tenants. Apart from this, the government will also provide rental waiver to stallholders and HDB’s commercial tenants. Local landlords such as CapitaLand, Frasers Centrepoint and Asia Mall, among others have responded favourably to the government’s appeal. For the transport sector, the government will provide a S$45 million funding support towards the S$77 million Point-to-Point Support Package for taxi and private hire car drivers. The remaining S$22 million will be contributed by taxi and private hire car operators.
Linda Geng
Economics Tuition Singapore @ Economics Cafe
Principal Economics Tutor: Mr. Edmund Quek