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Budget 2022 has been approved by President Halimah Yacob.
Third consecutive financial year which has seen the reserves drawn down
In a Facebook post on March 23, the President said that this includes an approval to draw S$6 billion from past reserves to fund public health expenditure against Covid-19.
In addition, this is the third consecutive financial year in which the government has had to draw on the reserves to do so.
Halimah highlighted that the culmulative expected amount of money drawn from the reserves, from FY2020 to FY2022, is about S$42.9 billion.
This is below the figure of S$52 billion that was originally agreed to for FY2020.
Halimah added that while such draws are "inevitable" as the necessary resources must be obtained for protecting Singaporeans and bolstering the economy, she is heartened by the "prudent" usage of the reserves by the government.
Recommendations were made by the Council of Presidential Advisors
Halimah also highlighted that apart from the information provided by the Ministry of Finance, she also had the benefit of recommendations by the Council of Presidential Advisors.
She said:
"Even as we prepare to transit to the new normal, it is not time yet to spare efforts in areas such as testing, clinical management, vaccination and therapeutics."
You can see her post in full here:
Top photo via Halimah Yacob Facebook