Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat had just delivered Singapore’s Budget 2021 yesterday and it was broadly in line with what we had expected. The Budget was aptly named “Emerging Stronger Together” as the country slowly emerges from the damage wreaked by the COVID-19 pandemic. For the second year in a row, the government dipped into its past reserves to the tune of S$1.7 billion to fund measures related to the pandemic. This amount will be combined with S$9.3 billion that was drawn last year but not used to fund the COVID-19 Resilience Package that will add up to a total of S$11 billion. The Budget is expected to record a deficit of around S$11 billion or 2.2% of Singapore’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). This was significantly down from last year’s record deficit of S$64.9 billion but still underscores the urgency in helping businesses and individuals to cope with the crisis....