COVID-19: Solidarity Budget (6 April 2020)

Minister of Finance and Deputy Prime Minister, Heng Swee Keat announced the Solidarity Budget on 6 April 2020.

The Solidarity Budget is the third round of government support measures to help tide Singaporean businesses and households through the COVID-19 pandemic. This budget statement was preceded by the Unity Budget (February 18) and the Resilience Budget (March 26). It was announced in response to the four-week-long “circuit-breaker” in Singapore starting from 7 April 2020. Most measures mentioned in the Solidarity Budget are built upon those already mentioned in the previous two budget statements.

For adult Singaporeans

Cash payouts

The Singapore government has set aside S$1.1 billion to be used for cash payouts. Most Singaporeans are entitled to the following payouts.

Package	Beneficiary	Amount	Given By
Solidarity Payment	All Singaporeans above 21 years old	$600	14 April 2020 – bank accounts
			30 April 2020 – cheques
Care & Support Package	Eligible Singaporeans	+ $300 / $600	June 2020
	Singaporean parents (with children below 20 years old)	+ $100
	Singaporeans 50 years old and above	+ $100 PAssion care top-up

Rent support

The following measures have been put in place to alleviate the financial burdens related to tenancy.

(i) Property owners must pass on the full property tax rebate to tenants.

(ii) Individuals can defer certain contractual obligations like paying rent and repaying loans.

The above measures will be legally enforced through a new bill announced on 7 April 2020.

For businesses & workers

The Singapore government has set aside S$4 billion to support businesses and workers. The amount encapsulates the following measures.

Rental waivers – for store owners

(i) The rental waiver for industrial, office and agriculture tenants of government agencies has been increased from two weeks to one month.

(ii) Stall-owners in NEA hawker centres and commercial tenants are entitled to three months and two months of waived rent respectively.

(iii) Businesses can defer certain contractual obligations like paying rent and repaying loans.*

*This above measure will be covered in the new bill to be announced on 7 April 2020.

Enhanced Job Support Scheme (JSS) – for Singaporean employees

The Job Support Scheme was first introduced in the Unity Budget in February 2020. The details of the Enhanced Job Support Scheme are as follows.

(i) All firms will have 75% of their employees' wages subsidised for April.

(ii) This enhanced scheme applies to all local employees across all firms in Singapore. 

The first JSS payout has been brought forward from May to April 2020.

Enhanced income relief (SIRS) – for self-employed persons

The Self-employed Person Income Relief Scheme (SIRS) has also been enhanced to include the following.

(i) Self-employed persons will receive three $3,000 payments in May, July and October 2020.

Other than the above, the eligibility criteria of the scheme have also expanded to include more beneficiaries.

(ii) Individuals who are self-employed but still earn a small income from employment work are now included in the scheme.

(iii) The annual household income ceiling has been increased from $13,000 to $21,000.

Reducing the cost of foreign workers

(i) The monthly foreign levy due in April will be waived.

(ii) Employers will receive a $750 foreign levy rebate* for each employee holding a work permit or an S-pass. 

*Eligible employers will receive the rebates as early as 21 April 2020.

Support for enterprises

The government risk share of loans taken by enterprises will increase from 80 to 90%.

The above applies for loans taken under the following schemes - (i) Temporary Bridging Loan Programme (ii) Enterprise Financing Scheme (EFS) – SME Working Capital Loan (ii) Enterprise Financing Scheme (EFS) – Trade Loan. The new scheme will apply to loans initiated from 8 April 2020 to 31 March 2021.