Teo Chee Hean
SINGAPORE, Feb 19 (Agencies): Singaporean Deputy Prime Minister Teo Chee Hean said here Sunday that the government would continue to help companies and trade unions in their economic transformation through the employment of technologies and the training of the workforce. Teo, who also acts as the Coordinating Minister for National Security, made the remarks while delivering a speech at a lunar new-year reception, timed one day ahead of the government's scheduled release of the draft budget.
He noted while people might anticipate a big red packet from the budget, it's more important that continuous efforts are made in pushing the economic growth.
He anticipated that Singapore would register a GDP growth between 1.5 and 3.5 per cent this year, compared with 3.6 per cent last year. The deputy prime minister also stressed that the government would work to ensure enough financial resources put aside for the future, while the country is seeing a growing aging population.
Meanwhile, Singapore confirmed it plans to hike its sales tax to nine per cent from seven per cent, but said the change will only be made "sometime" between 2021 and 2025. Pushing a change till at least three years away surprised some, after policymakers had flagged before Monday's budget speech that Singapore must increase revenue to meet future spending needs of its rapidly ageing population.
"The exact timing will depend on the state of the economy, how much our expenditures grow, and how buoyant our existing taxes are. But I expect that we will need to do so earlier rather than later in the period," Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat told parliament.
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