Follow our live blog for more updates.
SINGAPORE - Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong will be delivering Singapore’s 2024 Budget, titled Building Our Shared Future Together, in Parliament on Feb 16.
The speech will present the Government’s plans to help citizens meet their full potential, while keeping Singaporeans assured despite a more troubled world, said DPM Wong on Feb 15.
The Budget will be the first instalment of plans set out in the Forward Singapore road map, said DPM Wong, who is also Finance Minister.
Initiated by the fourth-generation leadership, the 180-page Forward SG report put out in October 2023 laid out the efforts Singapore will make in the coming years to stay cohesive amid a time of change.
These include providing a greater helping hand for the less well-off, mid-career workers and seniors, through means such as additional financial support and improved infrastructure.
Announcing the title of Budget 2024 on his social media platforms, DPM Wong said: “It is a Budget to keep Singapore moving forward, equip our citizens to realise their fullest potential and give more assurance to our families and seniors amid a more troubled world.”
The Forward SG road map was launched after a nationwide engagement exercise headed by DPM Wong that had involved more than 200,000 Singaporeans since it kicked off in June 2022.
The exercise was meant to refresh Singapore’s social compact – the glue that holds society together – given the challenges facing the island, which range from a more fraught external environment to a rapidly ageing population, to greater job insecurity due to rapid technological change.
Among other things, it sought to ensure that Singaporeans’ basic needs at every life stage will be met, such as in education, retirement, healthcare and housing.
During a press conference at the report’s launch, DPM Wong said these efforts come as Singapore has reached a key inflexion point where there will be more disruptions, workplace churn and impact on people’s lives, and the Government recognises that more must be done to assure the people.
The report also highlighted the mindset shifts required for Singapore to achieve the goals set out, such as wider definitions of success and a stronger sense of collective responsibility.
The Ministry of Finance said in December that there will be live television and radio coverage of the Budget statement.
A link to a live webcast of the delivery will also be available on the Singapore Budget website.
The Straits Times will provide live coverage of the Budget speech, which kicks off at 3.30pm.
- Watch Mr Wong deliver his speech and get instant bite-sized updates from the special live coverage on the ST website on Feb 16.
- Receive a special-edition Budget newsletter by signing up for ST’s Evening Update at this link.
- Follow key announcements on ST’s Facebook, Instagram, X, WhatsApp and TikTok.
- The statement will be published on this website after it has been delivered.
- Those interested in being e-mailed the Budget statement after it has been delivered can visit the MOF website at www.mof.gov.sg/email-subscription.
