DPM Heng to announce 3rd round of support for households, workers & businesses tomorrow, Apr. 6

This third package is known as Solidarity Budget.

Sulaiman Daud | April 05, 2020, 04:09 PM

Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat will announce even more support for workers, households and businesses as Singapore grapples with the effects of Covid-19.

While his first Budget in Feb. 2020 was named the Unity Budget, and the Supplementary Budget in Mar. 2020 was named the Resilience Budget, Heng will announce the third as the Solidarity Budget in Parliament on Apr. 6.

Heng, who is also the Finance Minister, said in a Facebook post on Apr. 4:

"We must remain steadfast in the face of crisis, and stand in solidarity with one another during these difficult times. I am therefore naming this set of measures to tide us through the 'circuit breaker' the Solidarity Budget.

Unity, Resilience, Solidarity — these values will come to define who we are as a people."

Earlier on Apr. 3, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong said in his speech that additional support for households and businesses would be announced in Parliament.

Painful but necessary restrictions

Heng remarked on the historic nature of this announcement, noting that this will be the third round of government support measures in less than two months, following mass closures of schools and workplaces.

He said that these were painful but necessary measures to help fight the spread of Covid-19.

Heng said he was grateful that previous generations have "saved up" so that he could fund these measures, and called this a "defining chapter of our generation." Concluded Heng:

"Together, we will pull through and emerge stronger. When the storm eventually subsides, as all storms do, I am confident that as a stronger society, we can build an even better future for our children and our grandchildren."

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Top image from Heng Swee Keat's Facebook page.