Singapore Budget 2016

This is it, folks.

After weeks and weeks of discourse from people from various walks of life - economists, market leaders, MPs and the people - we are less than 24 hours away from hearing Minister for Finance, Mr Heng Swee Keat, deliver the 2016 Budget Statement.

Here is a quick summary of the expectations for the Budget (because we at Wolters Kluwer believe in presenting you with the necessary information without unnecessary noise):

Source: http://blog.gopenske.com/

• There will be a re-focus on the economy to boost the new Government's coffers.
• There will not be any massive social handouts, as high-impact social measures were implemented prior to the Government wrapping up the elections in 2015. 
• There is a huge spotlight on small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). SMEs are expecting short-term measures to cope with the slow economy. 
• The Government will also implement medium-term strategies for SMEs and local businesses, with a view on internationalisation and enhancing value creation, productivity gains and innovation.
• Bigger businesses will not be left out, however, help will be targeted to industries that are greatly affected by the uncertain global and domestic economy.
• The Government may impose GST on e-commerce transactions to expand their revenue base.
• There will be no removal of property cooling measures, as the property market is just beginning to stabilise.
• The transition to reduce dependency on a foreign workforce will continue.
• The Budget is expected to be mildly expansionary, with a token deficit.

It should be noted that the broad swath of middle-income citizens will be watching the Budget to see if they will receive some form of handout to cope with the increasing living costs.

How to catch it?
The Budget Speech will be available via the following channels:

• • A live broadcast on Channel NewsAsia, with Mandarin interpretation.
• • A live broadcast on the radio on 938Live.
• • A live webcast on the Singapore Budget Website (www.singaporebudget.gov.sg), on the Channel NewsAsia website (www.channelnewsasia.com), and on MediaCorp’s Toggle interactive service (www.toggle.sg), as well as the Singapore Budget mobile application.

If you do not have time to catch the Budget Speech, fret not. Wolters Kluwer will be coming up with a special report on the Budget, so stay tuned for further details!