Corporates should embrace Budget's farsightedness

AS Budget 2020 approached, it became increasingly clear that its key theme was going to be about cushioning the economy from the impact of Covid-19. So, for people who spend their time watching the markets, the whole event looked like it was going to be a snore.

While Covid-19 is causing economic disruption and adversely affecting the livelihoods of many workers as well as the profitability of companies big and small, the attitude of the market seems to be that any fallout, no matter how severe, will soon prove to be transitory. In fact, the Straits Times Index is now less than 1 per cent below where it was at the beginning of January.

Rolling out generous fiscal measures may well have provided much needed relief to struggling small businesses and their workers, but it was not going to make any difference to the share prices of the big listed companies that drive the STI. Fortunately, the government did not allow Covid-19 to distract it from providing direction and leadership on tackling the big issues of our times - including climate change, technological disruption, inequality and ageing.