Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Finance, Lawrence Wong, will deliver the Singapore Budget 2024 Statement in Parliament on Friday, 16 February 2024, 3.30pm.
Stay tuned to our live coverage, for the latest announcements and updates of Singapore Budget 2024, as it happens. We will also provide real-time commentary on the potential implications that the announcements may have for Singapore and Singaporeans.
This page will be updated periodically as the Budget 2024 statement is delivered.
3.31pm: Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong has started delivering the 2024 Budget statement.
Singapore’s GDP Grew By 1.1% In 2023
3.32pm: Mr Wong gave an update on Singapore’s economic performance in 2023.
- the economy grew by 1.1%
- economy is expected to face continued geopolitical risk
- economy is expected to do better in 2024 with GPD growth estimated at 1%-3%
3.34pm: Mr Wong mentioned that the global community is more fragmented with major powers proritising national security over economic interdependence. Singapore has to operate in an external environment that will be less stable and favourable to our security and prosperity than in the last three decades.
3.36pm: The budget 2024 will roll out the first installment of our forward Singapore programs to take steps to tackle immediate challenges for households and businesses and assume better jobs better growth and equip our workers for life create more paths for equality.
Household Support Measures
3.39pm: All Singaporean household will receive an additional $600 in CDC vouchers with the first $300 disbursed in end June this year and the remaining $300 in January 2024. there will be another cost of living special payment of between $200 to $400 in cash for Singaporeans with accessible income of $100,000 and do not own more than one property.
3.40pm: Households will also receive an additional U-Save rebates to help with the increase in utility bills with is expected to be two and a half times the regular amount of U-Save rebates or up to $950 in financial year 2024. It is expected to cover about 4 months of utility bills for those living in three and four HDB flats together with the regular S&CC rebates.
3.42pm: All together these additional support measures under the Assurance package is expected to cost $1.9 billion that is expected to help lower income families with more support. Particularly households with seniors and children get more support comprising, cash, medisave top-ups, U-Save rebates and CDCD vouchers. For a middle income household with six persons including two seniors and two young children were receive about $8,000 in benefits.
Enterprise Support Package For Businesses
3.45pm: Mr Wong announced a new $1.3 billion Enterprise Support Package to support companies.
Under the scheme, companies would:
- Receive a 50% Corporate Income Tax Rebate, capped at $40,000 in the Year of Assessment 2024 with a minimum benefit of $2,000 in cash payouts for companies that employ at least one local employee in 2023.
- The Enterprise Financing Scheme will be enhanced to help enterprises with their financing needs. The maximum working capital loan quantum will be permanently raised to $500,000.
- The enhanced maximum trade loan quantum, as well as the Government’s risk sharing of project loans to support domestic construction projects will be extended until 31 March 2025.
Lastly, the Skills Future Enterprise Credit will also be extended by 1 year to June 2025 to provide additional support for eligible employers to cover their out of pocket expenses when they embark on workforce and business transformation. This extension also gives employers another year to claim any unused credit.
Undertaking Quality Investments
3.48pm: Mr Wong also mentioned that he will keep the priority to ensure a strong Innovative and vibrant economy, which is essential to secure good jobs and better lives for all Singaporeans.
3.49pm: The EDB exceeded its target and brought in Investments which are expected to create over 20,000 new jobs despite the challenging external environment. The government is rolling out various subsidies to attract Investments especially in strategic industries.
It will enhance the investment promotion toolkit by introducing a new refundable investment credit. This is a tax credit with a refundable cash feature that will support high value and substantive economic activities including the setting up or expansion of manufacturing facilities; new innovation and R&D activities; as well as activities in support of the green transition.
3.50pm: The National Productivity Fund will be topped up by $2 billion dollars to build on the current and new investment efforts. This allows us to build on our existing strengths and upgrade the sectors where we have competitive advantages these advantages.
3.54pm: To maintain our competitive lead in certain sectors:
- The Financial Sector Development Fund will be topped up by $2 billion to give MAS more resources to take advantage of the current opportunities and extend our lead in the financial services sector.
- The Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2025 (RIE2025) plan with a commitment of $25 billion will be further boosted by $3 billion to push the frontiers of innovation across the entire economy.
- More than $1 billion will be set aside over the next five years under the National AI strategy 2.0 into AI compute, talent and industry development.
- Additional resources will also set aside to upgrade our Nationwide Broadband Network to enable mass market access to broadband speeds of up to 10 gigabits per second.
3.58pm: Support for Green Loans under the Enterprise financing scheme will be expanded to support more SMES with their green solutions. The Energy Efficiency Grant introduced in 2022 will also be enhanced to more sectors including manufacturing construction Maritime and data centers.
Enhanced Support For Mid-Career Workers
4.00pm: All Singaporeans aged 40 and above will receive a Top-Up in Skills Future Credit under the SkillsFuture Level-Up Programme by $4,000 from May 2024. It is meant to be used for selected training programmes with better employability outcomes. This includes part-time and full-time diploma, post-diploma, and undergraduate programmes, as well as coures for Progressive Wage Model sectors.
Additionally, Singaporeans aged 40 and above will be able to pursue another subsidised full-time diploma at our polytechnics, ITE ,and Arts institutions from Academic Year 2025 onwards.
Furthermore, they will be able to receive training allowance for selected full-time at 50% of the average income (latest 12-month period) capped at $3,000 per month. Every individual can receive up to 24 months of training allowance throughout their lifetime.
4.08pm: The involuntarily unemployed will receive a new temporary financial support scheme to undergo training or look for better fitting jobs. The details of the scheme including the quantum of support and the requirements will be announced at a later date.
4.10pm: Mr Wong mentioned Singapore has been progress in uplifting lower wage workers and reducing disparities in wages our income inequality, which is measured by the Gini coefficient, which has declined to its lowest level over two decades. This is done so providing fair and Progressive wages for our lower wage workers.
Mr Wong mentioned he would enhance the Workfare Income Supplement scheme from next year. The qualifying income cap would also be raised from $2,500 to $3,000. The workfare payout would also be raised from a maximum annual payout of $4,200 to $4,900.
Additionally, the Local Qualifying Salary (LQS) for all local employees at companies that hire foreign workers will be raised from $1,400 to $1,600 from this year, with the minimum hourly rate increased from $9 to $10.50 per hour.
4.13pm: More support will be given to employers who raise the wages of their lower wage workers through the progressive wage credit scheme, which was introduced in 2022. The government co-funding level will be increased from a maximum of 30% to 50% as well the PWCS wage ceiling raised from $2,500 to $3,000 in 2025 in tandem with the increase of the LQS. To provide for these enhancements the PWCS fund will be topped up by $1 billion.
4.16pm: ITE graduates aged 30 and below will receive more support through a new ITE Progression Award. First, they would receive a $5,000 top up to their post-secondary education account where they could enrol in a diploma program. Second, when these students attain their diplomas, they will be given a further $10,000 to their CPF Ordinary Accounts to give them a head start in purchasing a home or saving for retirement.
This new Award is meant to signify the government’s commitment to uplifting in the ITE graduates to better equip them in their journey of lifelong learning.
4.18pm: Under the enhanced ComLink+ progress packages, eligible adults in the family can receive up to $600 in payouts every quarter through a combination of cash and CPF if they secure a job and stay employed. Additionally, they will also receive matching CPF grants from the government to grow their savings faster if they make voluntary contributions.
Ensuring Affordable Education For Children
4.24pm: New measures to improve preschool affordability were announced. These include:
- The extension of generous subsidies at government-supported preschools so that out-of-pocket expenses are kept affordable.
- Full day preschool expenses for dual income families will be reduced to be comparable to those of primary school and after school students care. This would be carried out by reducing the monthly childcare fee caps in government-supported preschools to $640 for anchor operators and $680 for partner operators in 2025. There will be another move to reduce the fee cap in 2026 with more details to be announced later.
- The existing preschool subsidies for lower-income families will be enhanced to all children including those with non-working mothers. This is expected to benefit up to 17,000 children.
Additionally, the Edusave awards for children in MOE schools will also be enhanced with a top up of $2 billion to the Edusave Endowment Fund.
Addressing Young Families Urgent Housing Needs
4.28pm: Young couples looking to settle down and form their families will have timely access to affordable housing with the government ramping up BTO supply and giving them greater priority.
In the interim, to help young families with urgent housing, Mr Wong announced a new Parenthood Provisional Housing Scheme (PPHS) (Open Market) Voucher for one year. It is meant to support eligible families to rent a HDB flat in the open market.
Changes To CPF System
4.30pm: The CPF contribution rates for senior workers will increase for those aged 55 to 65 by a futher 1.5% in 2025. As per the previous years, employers will receive another one year of CPF Transition Offset to cover half the increase in employer contributions in 2025 to help cushion the impact on business cost.
4.31pm: The enhanced retirement sum (ERS) will be increased from 3x the basic retirement sum to 4x the retirement sum from 2025. This means the ERS next year will be $426,00 and would allow CPF members age 55 and above to accumulate more CPF savings should they wish to receive higher payouts.
From 2025, the Special Account (SA) for those aged 55 and above will be closed with the SA savings transferred to the Retirement Account (RA) up to the Full Retirement Sum (FRS). The remaining SA savings will be transferred to the Ordinary Account (OA).
Enhanced Retirement Support For Seniors
4.32pm: Under the Silver Support Scheme, seniors who had low incomes during their working years and had less family support are given quarterly payments. From 2025, the qualifying per capita household income threshold for Silver Support will be increased from $1,800 to $2,300, and the quarterly payments will increase by 20% to keep pace with inflation.
4.34pm: Several changes were made to the Matched Retirement Savings Scheme (MRSS), which helps Singaporeans aged 55 to 70 by providing dollar-for-dollar matching for cash top ups to help with their retirement needs.
The first change was made to extend the MRSS to those above the age of 70. Next, the annual matching cap will be increased from $600 to $2,000 with a lifetime matching cap of $20,000. Third, the tax relief to encourage Singaporeans to top up their CPF will be removed. These changes to the MRSS will take effect from 2025.
For “young seniors” who are currently in their 50s and early 60s, they will get an additional boost to their retirement through the Majulah Package as announced by PM Lee at last year’s National Day Rally. In fact, Mr Wong promised that all Singaporeans bord in 1973 or earlier will receive at least one component of the Mujulah Package, which comprises of:
- An Earn and Save Bonus to help eligible seniors earning up to $6,000 per month to accumulate more retirement savings. They will receive a yearly bonus of up to $1,000 as long as they continue to work.
- A one-time Retirement Savings Bonus of between $1,000 and $1,500 to eligible seniors with retirement savings below the Basic Retirement Sum.
- A one-time MediSave Bonus to all seniors born in1973 or earlier receiving at least $750. For young seniors with less means, they will be given the higher tier of $1,500.
To qualify for the Earn and Save Bonus and/or the Retirement Savings Bonus, seniors must live in a property with annual value of $25,000 or less, and own no more than one property.
Recognising The Contributions Of Past And Present National Servicemen
4.40pm: In recognition of the scarifies of our national servicemen, all past and present national servicemen will receive $200 in the form of Life SG credits. It is expected to cost the government $240 million and benefit 1.2 million national servicemen.
Investments In Clean Energy
4.42pm: With 90% of our natural gas supplies coming from Malaysia and Indonesia, there are plans to build a second LNG terminal to meet our growing electricity needs natural gas. The government will set aside $5 billion under the Future Energy Fund to invest in enhancing our clean energy sources.
Encouraging Charity & Sports Initiatives
4.45pm: The Charities Capability Fund Collaboration grant will be extended by 3 years to encourage Charities to work together to uplift each other and better meet the needs of their beneficiaries.
To encourage more Singaporeans with overseas charity work, a new overseas humanitarian assistance tax deduction scheme will be introduced to provide 100% tax deductions for cash donations made towards overseas emergency humanitarian assistance causes. This will run for 4 years as a pilot scheme to cultivate a stronger culture of giving.
4.49pm: The national Arts Council has refreshed SG Arts plan to drive transformation efforts in the Arts sector by investing $100 million over the next 4 years to make the Arts more accessible to all Singaporeans. There will be more opportunities and touch points for our artists to infuse the Arts everywhere in our city and our communities.
4.50pm: Singapore will anchor more major sports events so that our athletes can compete in top tier competitions against the world’s best on home ground and allow more Singaporeans to cheer for team Singapore. The One Team Singapore Fund will be topped up by $20 million and will be extended till financial year 2027. Furthermore, the scope of donations eligible for matching to cover athletes expanded to emerging sports like pickleball, tchoukball and powerlifting.
Tax Reliefs
4.53pm: In light of the cost-of-living pressures, Singaporeans will receive a personal income tax rebate of 50% for the year of assessment 2024, which will be kept at a maximum of $200. This is expected to cost the government $350 million.
4.55pm: The annual income threshold for dependent related reliefs will be increased from $4,000 to $8,000.
4.56pm: A two-step increase in property tax rates for Residential Properties was first announced in Budget 2022. This was meant as a wealth tax targeted at all investment properties as well as the higher-end segment of owner-occupied properties. With the increase in Annual Values the proportion of affected owner-occupied properties nearly doubled to 13%, exceeding the initial expectation of the top 7%. Therefore, Mr Wong mentioned he would raise the all the AV bands of the owner occupier residential property tax rates with effect from 1 January 2025. The lower threshold will be increased from $8,000 to over $12,000 and the highest band from over $100,000 to over $140,000 and the corresponding adjustments to the bands in between.
On top of the ABSD concession enjoyed by Singaporean married couples on their replacement private property, Singapore Citizens aged 55 and above who wish to right-size can also claim a refund of the ABSD paid on their replacement private property (with a lower-value) if they sell their first property within six months.
5.00pm: The ABSD clawback rate for developers will be lowered if they sell at least 90% of each development within the prescribed sale timeline. This is to ensure that housing Supply continues to be released promptly while providing some flexibility to the Developers. The details of this change will be released in a statement later today.
Changes To Corporate Income Tax
5.02pm: Mr Wong mentioned the implementation of Pillar Two of the international Base Erosion and Profit Shifting (BEPS) 2.0 from 2025 for MNE groups with global revenue of at least $750 million annually.
The BEPS comprises of two pillars – Pillar One aimed reallocating taxing right on profits to market jurisdictions and Pillar Two the introduction of a global minimum effective tax rate of 15% for large MNE groups.
Under Pillar Two – Income Inclusion Rule (IIR) – MNE groups that are parented in Singapore have to pay a minimum effective tax rate of 15% on their groups’ overseas profit regardless of where they operate. Additionally, they have to also pay the same tax rate on their Singapore profits under the Domestic Top-up Tax (DTT).
The implementation of these tax changes is expected to provide additional revenues.
Economic Outlook For 2024
5.05pm: The fiscal outlook by the Ministry of Finance projected the government spending has rising steadily over the years with spending in the late 2000s around 15%. However, over the span of 10 years it has grown by 3% of GDP to around 18% of the GDP.
As part of the Forward Singapore to strengthen our social safety net, the government will spend $5 billion on Forward Singapore policy moves in financial year 2024 and would eventually cost $40 billion by the end of this decade.
5.07pm: Mr Wong summarised the fiscal position for 2023 and mentioned that the revenue collections were better than expected due to higher corporate income tax collections. This additional revenue allows to pay for new spending including the $7.5 billion injection to the Mujulah Package fund.
Nevertheless, we are expected to end FY2023 with a deficit of $3.6 billion or 0.5% of the GDP. In contrast, the government is budgeting a small surplus of $0.8 billion or 0.1% of the GDP for FY2024, which would be a balanced fiscal position.
5.10pm: Mr Wong wraps up his speech on the Budget 2024.
Where To Watch Singapore Budget Statement 2024 Live?
For those who interested to catch the live broadcast of Finance Minister Lawrence Wong’s Singapore Budget 2024 live, you can do so via the following platforms:
Pre-Budget 2024 Reading List
This year, Finance and Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will be delivering the Budget 2024, titled Building Our Shared Future Together. It is expected to be the first instalment of plans set out in the Forward Singapore road map.
According to DPM Wong, Budget 2024 is meant to keep Singapore moving forward and equip its citizens to realise their fullest potential while keeping them assured in a more troubled world.
This comes amidst rising cost pressures including the rise in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from 8% to 9% from 1 January 2024. To help Singaporeans cope with rising cost-of-living pressures, the government announced an additional $1.1 billion cost-of-living support package in September 2023 for households. This is on top of the enhanced $9.6 billion Assurance Package that the government announced in Budget 2023 to help Singaporean households through various support schemes, such as cash payouts, U-Save rebates, S&CC rebates, and CDC vouchers.
Additionally, businesses were also given assistance like the CPF transition offset for the increase in CPF contribution rates for senior workers and other incentives to seize new opportunities where possible. To help workers with their retirement needs, the CPF monthly contribution salary ceiling was raised from $6,000 to $6,800 from 1 September 2023 and would eventually be raised to $8,000 by 2026.
Similarly, we could expect this year’s Budget 2024 to focus on the basic needs that matter to Singaporeans, such as education, retirement, healthcare and housing.
Listen to our podcast, where we have in-depth discussions on finance topics that matter to you.
