Budget deficit hit $1.7b in FY 2019

This translates to 0.3% of the GDP.

Singapore’s overall budget deficit hit $1.7b in FY 2019, or 0.3% of the gross domestic product (GDP), deputy prime minister and financial minister Heng Swee Keat revealed during his Budget 2020 speech.

Also read: Singapore Budget 2020 Full Coverage: COVID-hit sectors to get $4b; GST hike moved to 2025; more jobs for older workers

This is $1.8b lower than the $3.5b forecasted a year ago.

The lower deficit was attributed to the lower expenditure that the government made as a result of project delays.

Heng noted that they are expecting a basic deficit of $5.1b or 1% of the GDP.

Further, for FY 2020, the government expects an overall deficit of $10.9b or 2.1% of the GDP. This is in line with ING’s earlier commentary that Singapore might see its worst fiscal deficit in two decades at 2% of the GDP.

However, the expected deficit for FY2020 is lower than Fitch’s earlier estimates of that it will comprise 2.3%-2.6% of the GDP for the year.

Both estimates took into account the expected negative impact of the 2019 novel coronavirus (2019 nCov) scare on various business sectors.

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