THE ink on the finance minister's Budget 2020 statement would likely be moist when he delivers the speech next Tuesday, as measures to manage the novel coronavirus (Covid-19) situation in Singapore are continually refined to help businesses and Singaporeans tide over this difficult period.

Some of these measures may be retrieved from the 2003 playbook. That was the year when Singapore was affected by an outbreak of severe acute respiratory syndrome (Sars). As recently stated by Minister for Trade and Industry Chan Chun Sing, help will be directed to the hardest-hit tourism and transport-related sectors. Such assistance may, as they have during the Sars period, come in the form of property tax rebates for commercial property (particularly hotels), a reduction in the foreign worker levy for unskilled workers employed by hotels and the easing of working capital through a temporary bridging loan for tourism-related small and medium enterprises.

The broader impact of Covid-19 on non-tourism and non-transport related businesses may be equally severe, if the spread of the virus is not contained and evolves into a global pandemic. Supply chains, already under stress from the ongoing trade war between the United States and China, would suffer major disruptions if Covid-19 cannot be contained. The impact on Singapore will be acute.