Government likely to achieve balanced budget in current term despite Covid deficit

THE Singapore government is expected to balance its budget for the current term, set to end by 2025, despite a record S$51.6 billion overall budget deficit in financial year 2020 when the Covid-19 pandemic hit, analysts told The Business Times (BT).

This is even as the government has not planned or implemented any revenue measure to make good on the reserves drawn for the fight against Covid-19, a spokesperson from the Ministry of Finance (MOF) said in response to queries from BT.

The deficit resulted from multiple rescue packages rolled out as the economy took a beating from the pandemic, records by the Accountant-General’s Department (AGD) show.