By Wong Siew Ying | Posted: 27 January 2012 1814 hrs
DAVOS, Switzerland:
Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has said that the Singapore
Budget, which will be announced in three weeks' time, will emphasise on
sustaining the country's long-term competitiveness.
Speaking to
reporters at the end of a 24-hour working trip in Davos, Switzerland, Mr
Lee said the Budget will be about how Singapore responds to and deals
with the transition from rapid growth in the past, to slower expansion
now.
Slowing growth and rising business costs are among the major challenges companies face this year.
But it appears unlikely the upcoming Budget will provide any quick fixes.
Mr
Lee said: "(The emphasis) should be (on) sustaining our long-term
competitiveness, how to build on that, how to make sure that we can make
this navigate this change of course, from quite rapid expansion in the
last 10 years, to a much slower expansion, but much more qualitative
transformation in terms of skills we have, in terms of the capabilities
we build up, in terms of productivity which we are going to have to
deliver and improve productivity year by year, and therefore, to be able
to improve incomes of Singaporeans."
PM Lee was in Davos at the
invitation of Mexico's President, Felipe Calderon, to attend a G20
dinner meeting, where he presented his observations about the debt
problems in Europe and how Asia could contribute to a global solution.
In
Davos, there is a lot of talk among European leaders about a crisis in
confidence. But Mr Lee said the issue for Singapore is really about how
the country can remain nimble and responsive to changing external
environment, in order to keep jobs and make sure companies are viable.
He
said: "As the economy goes down, we make adjustments, as the economy
picks up, we withdraw the stimuli. Part of the confidence comes from the
long-term consistency which we have, that you are able to offer
investors a competitive environment and investors know if something
happens and they need help, which is legitimate, we will be there to
help them."
During his visit, Mr Lee also met business leaders
from German electronics firm Siemens and Japan's Takeda Pharmaceutical,
both of which have operations in Singapore.
Mr Lee said Yasuchika
Hasegawa, CEO of Takeda Pharmaceutical, has heaped praises on Singapore
as one of the best places to do business for drug firms.
Mr Lee added that this vote of confidence is powerful.
- CNA
Depend on PAP hard lah. Might as well depend on myself.
Don't raise GST and flood us with aliens and make more problems for us can already lah.
Got money to get on that day or not?
sustaining our long-term competitiveness and productivity is laudable....but improving income is sad laughters for years...
Originally posted by Fcukpap:sustaining our long-term competitiveness and productivity is laudable....but improving income is sad laughters for years...
except the ministers.
2012 Budget to focus on S'pore's long-term future: PM Lee
By Claire Huang | Posted: 28 January 2012 2030 hrs
SINGAPORE: Singapore's Budget for 2012 will focus on investing in the country's longer-term future.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said this at the Teck Ghee Lunar New Year dinner on Saturday evening.
In
his speech, Mr Lee said the government is already seeing signs of a
slowdown, with Singapore expected to grow by one to three per cent this
year.
Despite the slow growth, Mr Lee said it would not be a
repeat of the 2008 financial crisis. He said the government will take
the current economic climate into consideration when preparing the
Budget.
He said: "We project growth (to be around) one to three
per cent. It's significantly less than what we got last year, when we
had nearly five per cent growth. But I think if we get that, we will not
be doing badly.
"The government is monitoring the situation very
closely. Overall, I think that this year will not be as bad as 2008,
when we had a very big crisis, and everybody was quite worried and
scared. But nevertheless, we will look carefully at the outlook and we
will take into account when we prepare the budget this year."
One area that the Budget will focus on is to help companies upgrade and help Singaporeans protect jobs.
The government will also do more in areas like housing and education.
Safety nets, including ComCare schemes and childcare subsidies, will be strengthened.
With
about 15 per cent of the population expected to be 65 years and older,
Mr Lee said the government will also help the elderly in terms of
medical expenses. In terms of housing, more studio apartments will be
built for them.
While Singapore is in a strong position to
overcome the challenging year ahead, Mr Lee said it cannot do so alone,
and called on Singaporeans to work together with the government to
achieve a brighter future for all.
More than a thousand residents joined Mr Lee in celebrating the festive season with song and dance and Lunar New Year goodies.
-CNA
this does not sound good
Published on Feb 10, 2012
With social spending expected to rise as Singapore ages, the Government will have to look at ways to raise more revenue.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told unionists on Thursday last week that he was confident about the Government's finances for the next five years. But beyond that, as spending - especially on the elderly, the poor and broken families - goes up, it would need to think of ways to boost revenue.
Experts interviewed on Thursday said that each of the Government's options - whether raising taxes or spending more of the returns from the investment of the nation's reserves - will come with costs and consequences.
Raising the goods and services tax (GST), for example, would be in line with the Government's philosophy of moving away from taxing income to taxing consumption, but would be a political challenge.
Budget Statement to be delivered from 3.30pm on Friday
Posted: 15 February 2012 1437 hrs
SINGAPORE: Deputy
Prime Minister and Minister for Finance Tharman Shanmugaratnam will
deliver Singapore's 2012 Budget Statement in Parliament at 3.30pm on
February 17.
His speech will be broadcast 'live' over Channel
NewsAsia, with Chinese translation on dual sound mode, over the radio on
938Live and on channelnewsasia.com.
The Ministry of Finance
(MOF) said on Wednesday that a 'live' webcast of the speech will also be
available on the Singapore Budget website, which is supported on
iPhones and iPads.
Updates on the Budget Speech will be posted on the MOF Facebook page and the MOF Twitter account.
To receive all Budget-related tweets, the public may use the hashtag #SGBudget.
They can also visit the Gov.sg homepage or download the gov.sg app, available on Apple and Android, for updates on the go.
The
public may also visit the Singapore Budget website and subscribe to the
Budget Statement mailing list to receive the Budget Statement via email
after it has been delivered.
This free service will be available for subscription until 7.30pm on February 16.
After
the FY2012 Budget Statement has been delivered, the public can submit
views on the Budget initiatives through these feedback channels:
· REACH Budget micro website
· REACH Singapore Twitter
· SMS to 9-SPEAK-UP (9-77325-87)
· REACH Singapore Facebook
· Email ([email protected])
· Toll-Free Hotline at 1800 3535555
Other
engagement activities include a Facebook chat on the REACH Facebook
Page on February 26 between 7.30pm and 9pm, as well as the REACH roving
exhibition at the Raffles Place lawn from February 23 to 24.
- CNA
Short term cmi liao want to talk long term?
rber to tune in at 3.30pm later
GST voucher!
is that a hint.
Originally posted by winsomeea:More budget needed to satisfy the crave of lee hsien loong to bring in more foreigners to suck locals dry.
Lee hsien loong and father the walking corpse are fit to become residents of hell any time. Hell welcomes them.
win....i dun think lee hsien loong is capable of such plans to suck things from own people.remeber he said sorry etc etc during voting day.
it may be his wife or advisors around him thats doing the bad planning.
y need govt $ buy more buses when the transport co. oredi enjoying high profits.
Originally posted by SevenEleven:Short term cmi liao want to talk long term?
what is long term?
Budget 2012 Summary
http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/budget_2012/download/FY2012_Budget_in_Brief.pdf
Budget 2012 in full text
http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/budget_2012/downloads.html
alotta things for the elderly.