An Inclusive Budget

By NTUC This Week team

The Budget announcements on 24 March 2016 outlined the Government’s plan to transform the economy and support people through change.

To address near-term concerns for businesses, Minister for Finance Heng Swee Keat announced initiatives like the Industry Transformation Programme that will aid in economic restructuring. Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) can also look forward to the Business Grants Portal, a one-stop portal that will harmonise the various schemes available.

Doing More for Workers

Minister Heng stated that the Government will work with the tripartite partners to pilot new approaches to job matching and training, including a new Adapt and Grow Initiative that is aimed at helping professionals, managers and executives (PMEs) to adapt to changing demands and upskilling.

More low-wage workers will stand to benefit from enhancements to the Workfare Income Supplement scheme, with the income ceiling bumped from $1,900 to $2,000 and an increase in payouts.

Older workers will also receive more support through the Silver Support Scheme and changes to the Special Employment Credit which encourages employers to hire workers aged 55 and above.

For more details on the initiatives in Budget 2016, check out our guide below.

Budget 2016 at a Glance

These are the schemes announced by the Government to support the different groups of workers and businesses:

• Low-wage workers
  • Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) Scheme (for work done from Jan 2017)
    • Qualifying income ceiling increased from $1,900 per month to $2,000 per month to take into account changes in income levels.
    • Higher WIS payouts of up to $3,600 per year
    • Pay WIS for each month of work, on a monthly basis instead of quarterly under the current system
    • Increase WIS payments to CPF Medisave and Special Accounts to boost healthcare and retirement adequacy of WIS recipients
• Older workers
  • Special Employment Credit (SEC)
    • Will be extended from 1 Jan 2017 to 31 Dec 2019.
    • Wage offsets provided to employers hiring Singaporean workers aged 55 and above, earning up to $4,000.
    • Will be tiered by employee age to provide stronger support for employers hiring Singaporeans in the older age bands. Employers who hire workers aged 65 and above, earning not more than $3,000 per month, will receive the highest SEC of 8% of the employees’ monthly wage.
  • Silver Support Scheme
    • The scheme supplements the incomes of seniors who had lower incomes over their lifetimes and have less retirement support.
    • Scheme is targeted at the bottom 20% of Singaporeans aged 65 and above.
    • No sign-up required, eligible Singaporeans will be notified in end-July 2016.
• PMETs
  • Adapt and Grow Initiative ($35 million per year from the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund and Skills Development Fund)
    • Enhance employment support.
    • Helping PMETs adapt to changing job demands and growing their skills.
    • Expanding wage support schemes for workers who have difficulties finding jobs.
    • More Professional Conversion Programmes for mid-career job seekers.

Some 70 per cent of the resident workforce are employed by SMEs. With the uncertain economy ahead, these are how the Government is addressing the near-term concerns through the Industry Transformation Programme:

• SMEs
  • Business Grants Portal (from fourth quarter 2016)
    • To organise the many grants from various agencies along core business needs of:
      • Capability building
      • Training
      • International expansion
  • Automation Support Package
    • To support companies to automate, drive productivity and scale up for a period of three years.
    • Grant support up to 50% of qualifying cost, with maximum grant of $1 million.
    • Investment Allowance of 100% for automation equipment, in addition to the existing capital allowance.
    • Government will improve SMEs access to loans for qualifying projects, increasing risk-share from 50 per cent to 70 per cent.
    • IE Singapore and SPRING to help business assesses overseas markets.
  • SME Mezzanine Growth Fund
    • Current fund size to grow from $100 million to a $150 million
    • Grant Mergers & Acquisitions allowance to qualifying deals with values up to $40 million, up from the current cap of $20 million.
    • Extend upfront certainty of non-taxation companies’ gains on disposal of equity investments based on existing scheme parameters until 31 May 2022.
  • National Trade Platform
    • Government will develop the National Trade Platform – a one-stop trade information management system – to support firms.
    • This will be developed as an open innovation platform to enable other service providers to develop value-added services and apps for the system.
    • This will replace the existing TradeNet and TradeXchange systems.
  • National Robotics Programme
    • Government will make available over $450 million over the next three years under the National Robotics Programme to support robotics development and deployment across sectors.
  • Local Enterprise and Association Development-Plus (LEAD-Plus) programme
    • To increase outreach through Trade Association and Chambers (TAC).
    • This will build on the existing LEAD programme to provide wider funding support for TACs to attract talent, develop their capabilities and strengthen their processes and services.
  • TechSkills Accelerator 
    • Skills development and job placement hub for ICT sector

Source: NTUC This Week