Singapore Budget 2018: A quiet but seismic shift in Singapore's approach to borrowing

Singapore

THE Singapore government's conservative approach to spending is well known - it has not borrowed to finance its expenditures since the 1980s.

But Budget 2018 seemed to signal a potentially seismic shift in this way of thinking. As Singapore's infrastructure needs grow, the option to use debt to finance big-ticket expenditures is back in the limelight.

In his Budget speech, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said that the government is considering providing guarantees for long-term borrowings made by statutory boards and government-owned companies to build critical national infrastructure.

Statutory boards and government-owned companies already use bonds to finance infrastructure projects. For example, statutory boards such as the Housing Board, Land Tr…