SINGAPORE, Feb. 18 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said in his Budget Statement in Parliament on Monday that the city-state's budget position remains expansionary in financial year 2019, with a basic deficit of 7.1 billion Singapore dollars (about 5.24 billion U.S. dollars).
He said Singaporean ministries' total expenditures will reach 80.3 billion Singapore dollars in the year, 1.6 percent more than in financial year 2018. Meanwhile, the government will set aside funds to meet Singaporeans' long-term needs.
On the whole, the overall budget deficit of Singaporean government is expected to hit 3.5 billion Singapore dollars in financial year 2019, accounting for 0.7 percent of the country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP).
"We have sufficient fiscal surplus accumulated over this term of government to fund the overall deficit in financial year 2019," Heng added. "There is no draw on past reserves."
The minister announced that Singapore's overall budget surplus for financial year 2018 hit 2.1 billion Singapore dollars, or 0.4 percent of GDP.
This is a 2.7-billion-Singapore-dollar increase from the 0.6 billion Singapore dollars deficit forecasted a year ago, due to the unexpected two-year suspension of the Kuala Lumpur-Singapore High-Speed Rail Project and higher-than-expected Stamp Duty collections, he said. (1 U.S. dollar equals to 1.36 Singapore dollars)
