On 18 February 2020, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Mr Heng Swee Keat, delivered Singapore’s Financial Year 2020 Budget Statement (Singapore Budget 2020) in Parliament.

Beyond considering the future needs for Singapore's development, Singapore Budget 2020 also included measues to address the impact of the 2019 Novel Coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak with an additional S$800 million set aside to support these efforts.

A day before delivering the Singapore Budget 2020 Statement, Mr Heng noted in his Facebook page that the Singapore Budget 2020 would also include measures that "were not on the table a month ago". He added that Singapore is able to respond decisively to the challenges of the COVID-19 outbreak because of the strength of Singapore's reserves, which went beyond our financial reserves to include "reserves of strength, resilience, empathy and resourcefulness among public servants and Singaporeans".

Why does Singapore have sufficient financial reserves that we can tap on? What considerations go into the planning of Singapore's budget?

Watch the video below for answers to these questions.

Click on the link below to learn more about the Singapore Budget.

Ministry of Finance - Singapore Budget