Singapore Budget 2021 highlights
This Budget highlights provides a succinct overview and summary of the key measures proposed.
In the midst of an unprecedented crisis, the natural instinct is to double down on the now. When survival and livelihoods are at stake, responding to immediate threats takes on significant importance. Beyond providing temporary reliefs to weather through the storm, it is also critical to keep an eye on the beyond, for the simple reason that large crises reshape the long-term competitive landscape. A post-crisis world may look very different, with different norms, rules, competitors and value propositions.
Against this backdrop, Budget 2021, which was unveiled by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat on 16 February 2021 seeks to help workers and businesses adapt, innovate, grow and emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic stronger as an economy, and together as one people.
Budget 2021 is expansionary, with an expected deficit of S$11b (or 2.2% of Singapore's gross domestic product), which is necessary to overcome the extraordinary challenges that the COVID-19 pandemic continues to pose.
This alert highlights the key tax and non-tax measures impacting businesses across three time horizons:
- Now, to provide relief in the immediate term
- Next, to invest strategically for growth and press on with the economic transformation in the medium term
- Beyond, to build a caring and sustainable home for generations to come
