What to expect in Singapore’s Budget 2025?

Generous financial support and more measures to improve economic competitiveness.

Singaporeans can expect more generous financial support packages, corporate tax rebates, and more e longer-term measures to improve economic competitiveness in Budget 2025.

Budget 2025 is expected to register a $6.7b surplus. Budget 2024 likely saw a larger surplus of 0.8% of GDP due to higher-than-expected revenue. Operating revenue rose by 13.2% in the first nine months of FY 2024 to $87.5b, far outstripping the government’s full-year forecast of 5%.

This was led by collections of GST (+25%), corporate tax (+6.2%) and personal income taxes (+9.4%). Expenditure (+10.5% in Apr-Sep) is broadly on track at $48.3b, or 43.2% of the full-year Budget.

Maybank also expects a generous ‘SG60’ package which will come in the form of cash, CDC vouchers, U-Save rebates and/or Medisave top-ups to help defray living costs ahead of Singapore’s 60th birthday.

Additionally, a higher personal income tax rebate could be in the cards to help middle-income taxpayers, with a higher cap than $200 in Budget 2024 as well as other measures to defray the cost of essential expenses for lower and middle-income groups such as medical care, childcare and education.

This could include top-ups to Child Development (CDA) and Edusave Accounts to help cover children’s education expenses. There may be targeted assistance for specific social groups, including large families and the “sandwiched” groups with both elderly and child dependents. Details of a new Large Families support scheme will be unveiled.

SkillsFuture could be enhanced to support younger Singaporeans with more comprehensive upskilling programs.

Maybank also expects rebates for corporate tax, and property tax on commercial and industrial properties, given stronger than expected fiscal revenue in FY2024.

Cooling measures or more wealth tax is also not expected to be announced during Budget 2025 as Maybank believes the government will wait to see whether the increase in housing supply in the coming years will cool prices. Additionally, significant hikes to property and income taxes to enhance progressivity were already introduced in 2022 and 2023. En bloc rules may be relaxed to revive enbloc sales, rejuvenate older projects, and increase the private sector supply response to changing property demand.

Maybank said it expects GDP growth to remain resilient at +2.6% in 2025 and +2.3% in 2026, moderating from a strong +4% in 2024.