Looking to the supplementary budget for a lifeline in the storm

AS SINGAPORE unveils a supplementary budget today, amid the still-unfolding global Covid-19 crisis, it remains to be seen if this unprecedented situation will bring forth extraordinary unparalleled help - or if prudence will still reign, given the uncertainty of this threat.

When the second stimulus package was mentioned by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat on March 11, economists had mainly hoped for an intensification of the sort of measures in Budget 2020's S$4 billion Stabilisation and Support Package: more wage offsets, say, or more financing support for small and medium enterprises in particular.

Tellingly, Mr Heng said at the time that the government was not ruling out the use of past reserves for the new package, despite the S$7.7 billion surplus accumulated by the current term of government - an early suggestion of the possible scale of aid.