DPM Heng to make ministerial statement on Aug 17 on Covid-19 support measures for firms, workers

SINGAPORE — Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat will be making a ministerial statement on Monday (Aug 17) to provide details on how the Government will continue to support workers and businesses during the Covid-19 pandemic.

“We will continue to support our workers and firms through this crisis,” Mr Heng said in a Facebook post on Friday.

“But we are not able to sustain the same level of support indefinitely. As more sectors re-open gradually, we will have to evolve and taper the support provided.”

Mr Heng gave the assurance that the Government will continue to provide targeted support to sectors that are hardest hit, including helping them “pivot to new opportunities” in growth areas.

Mr Heng, who is also the Coordinating Minister for Economic Policies and Minister for Finance, will deliver his statement at 3.30pm on Monday. It will be aired on CNA, CNA938 and Mediacorp MeWatch.

The full ministerial statement itself will be published on the Singapore Budget website after it has been delivered.

In his post on Friday, Mr Heng noted that the pandemic has continued unabated in many parts of the world.

This has caused the global economy to take a “very severe hit”, said Mr Heng who expects the situation to get worse.

In Singapore, he said the economy has experienced its worst quarterly gross domestic product performance on record in the second quarter.

Still, he said the Government has provided “significant support” for workers and businesses with almost S$100 billion over four Budgets, with more than half coming from Singapore’s past reserves.

“However, given the global economic and health crisis, we are likely to see more job losses and retrenchments in the coming months,” he warned. “It will be many more months before our economy recovers fully.”

Even then, he said Singaporeans should not expect business to be back as usual.

“As we gradually re-open our economy, the recovery across industries is likely to be uneven and uncertain,” said Mr Heng.

He added that many sectors are gradually regaining their footing as economic activities resume, with a few sectors even growing and hiring.

But he said that there are several sectors that have been very hard-hit, and are unlikely to recover for some years to come.