Government to give out $6.6bn to Singaporeans

To help mitigate rising costs for lower-income households, the average Singaporean household will receive about $3,000.

OCBC said, according to FY2011 Budget, this is equivalent to about 5% of their annual household income, and more than double the increase in the expected household expenses this year. The government will give out $3.2 billion this year.

The FY10 budget outcome was more subdued than we expected, with a modest overall deficit of $0.28 billion. As we anticipated, the government will return $4 billion to national reserves drawn down in 2009 to fund the Jobs Credit Scheme and the Special Risk Sharing Initiative. For FY11, a basic deficit of $2.2b (about 0.7% of GDP), versus the FY10 basic deficit of 0.8% of GDP, together with a marginal overall budget surplus of $0.08b is planned, after two consecutive years of overall fiscal deficits. Key budget initiatives include the 0.5% restoration of employers’ CPF contribution, tax rebates (20% for corporates and individuals with differing caps of $10k and $2k respectively), foreign worker levy hikes, increased flexibility for PIC, WIS enhancements, long-term elderly healthcare, amongst others.