SINGAPORE, Feb. 28 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat said here Friday that he would ask for permission from President Halimah Yacob to draw on Singapore's past reserves if the COVID-19 outbreak deteriorates significantly and calls for it.
Responding to Members of the Parliament who had asked about the use of the reserves, he noted that the government had not needed to tap the reserves for the budget's support packages to stabilize the economy amid the uncertainties caused by the COVID-19 outbreak.
Some 5.6 billion Singapore dollars (about 4 billion U.S. dollars) was set aside to help businesses as well as workers and households to cushion the impact that the virus has had on Singapore, according to the newly-announced budget statement. It is comprised of the 1.6-billion-Singapore-dollar Care and Support Package for households and 4-billion-Singapore-dollar Stabilization and Support Package for businesses and employees.
Heng, who is also finance minister, said in the budget debate in the parliament that "if the outbreak becomes a worldwide pandemic, and the global economic impact is deeper and longer, we have the fiscal resources to do so, and the will to act."
"But if the situation deteriorates significantly and calls for us to tap our past reserves, I will make a case to the President to seek her approval to do so."
In another development, he noted that the president, all Cabinet ministers including the Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and political office-holders will take a one-month pay cut in solidarity with Singaporeans coping with the coronavirus outbreak.
On the other hand, public officers in Singapore's battle against the coronavirus outbreak will get up to one extra month of special bonus, he added.
The front-line workers will include many healthcare officers in restructured hospitals and the Health Ministry, as well as some officers in other front-line agencies who have been directly involved in fighting the COVID-19 virus, he said.
This year's budget takes place under exceptional circumstances, with the "softening of the global economy, and the sudden COVID-19 outbreak," Heng said.
According to the 2020 budget statement unveiled on Feb. 18, Heng said that Singapore is expected to have a 10.9 billion-Singapore-dollar budget deficit this year, or around 2.1 percent of the nation's gross domestic product (GDP).
