Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam will present the Budget statement this afternoon.

Here are six things this year's Budget could focus on.

1. Rising hawker food prices, rising costs of living

In 2012, this costs $2.50. In 2014, it’s $3. Tomorrow leh?

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Thanks to rising rents, hawker centre uncles and aunties have no choice but to increase prices all around. We would really like to not pay $5 for a plate of chicken rice in the future.

The Economist says Singapore is the most expensive city in the world, though DPM Tharman said that the cost-of-living surveys typically tracked goods that are associated with expatriate spending.

Can we reduce the cost of living while increasing wages?

To reduce the cost of living, this requires lowering the cost of producing goods and services, which points to enhanced government subsidies or loans for capital investment, and research and development. To increase wages, the government needs to secure agreements from the private sector to increase wages commensurate with skills and responsibilities—not just for low-income workers, but for everyone.

2. MRT increases fares and breakdowns

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After 24 years without a problem, trains started breaking down in 2011. Even today, there are train service delays, power faults, door faults and other faults we haven’t heard of yet. And the Public Transport Council says we must pay 2.8% more.

How about this: start fixing the train system, implement fines for service disruption, and focus on alternative forms of public transport. For the latter, this means expanding the bus network through the Bus Enhancement Service Programme and increasing the salaries of bus drivers, reducing rents for taxis to let cabbies earn more, cut down on surcharges so people will prefer to use them, and where possible encourage Singaporeans to take on such jobs.

When the MRT operators start seeing people take buses or taxis instead, they’ll want to buck up on their own.

3. Looking after the old folks

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The population is getting older and we need to look after the people who built Singapore. This was done last year with the introduction of the Pioneer Generation Package. At the same time, caregivers are poorly paid and there aren’t enough of them. If nursing homes increase their fees so they can pay for more caregivers or higher salaries, people may not afford the cost. Something needs fixing.

What can be done? We can think about instituting living wage policies for caregivers, implementing recommendations for nursing home fees, allowing the elderly to pay for nursing services with CPF and have tax breaks for nursing homes that offer quality care.

Also, the elderly should be allowed to age in place where practical, through government-sponsored or subsidised renovations, personalised caregiver services, and easy access to social and medical facilities, thereby reducing the need for nursing homes.

Or, we could just send our parents and grandparents to JB.

4. Foreign workers

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On one hand, foreign workers do the kind of jobs Singaporeans don’t want to do. On the other hand, how many do we really need, especially foreign talent? On the third hand, how do we protect foreign workers from being abused by errant employers? On the fourth hand, will reducing the number of foreign workers affect economic growth and competitiveness? On the fifth hand…

So many questions, not enough answers. Therefore, we need a government study of foreign workers in Singapore, to determine how many we really need, in what sectors, and how to ensure they won’t be abused, before we rush headlong into more policies.

Which, yes, will require actual, proper public consultation. And no, the White Paper on Population does not count.

5. Healthcare is getting pricier

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The problem isn’t just insufficient hospital beds; it’s that healthcare costs are rising all around. National healthcare costs today is $7.5 billion. The government says it’s building more hospitals for the sick, but prevention is better than treatment.

That means instead of more hospitals, the government should build more clinics and pharmacies in neighbourhoods. This lets people take care of minor illnesses before they escalate into severe ones. Also, the healthcare sector should consider the creation of healthcare webs, with teams of specialists working hand-in-hand to dispense frontline services, advice, check-ups and treatments, referring patients to doctors only for emergencies.

6. Work more, do less

Go on, guess which little blue diamond Singapore is.

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Singapore has one of the world’s longest working weeks. Already 6 in 10 Singaporeans say they are overworked and underpaid, and yet in spite of working at least 44 hours a week Singapore has one of the world’s lowest productivity rates.

The government says it wants to improve productivity, and they’ve been throwing taxpayer money into government schemes and incentives, controlling numbers of foreign workers and telling workers to upgrade themselves. But they’ve been doing it for many years now...

How about taking a leaf from the more productive countries? The government should also audit the courses and schemes they are offering, see what actually works and does not, and cut out the ones that do not work to save taxpayers’ money. Maybe even consider tying corporate taxes to productivity—this would get the fat cats to actually follow through on increasing productivity.

Top photo from MOF Facebook page.

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