Slew of incentives for Singapore industry

On the back of exceptional growth in the last year, during which the economy expanded by 14.5 per cent, Singapore on Friday unveiled its Budget for 2011 with a range of incentives for supporting local business and S$ 6.6 billion in social spending, with an eye on the elections expected later this year.

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said that his two main strategies would be to grow income for all Singaporeans by “30 per cent in real terms over this decade” and promoting inclusive growth through supportive tax measures and increased social spending.

Although the government had initially estimated an overall budget deficit of S$3 billion for financial year 2010, he said that “given the much improved economic performance” the expectation now was that the overall budget would be close to a balanced position, with a small deficit of S$0.3 billion.