Budget 2025: Winners and Losers

Experts say some sectors could face drawbacks from budget measures.

Although Budget 2025 introduced adequate measures to support businesses, an expert cautioned that some companies may not fully benefit and could face unintended drawbacks.

The sector and stock that will not likely benefit enough from the budget measures are the non-banking financials and SGX, respectively, said Shekhar Jaiswal, an analyst at RHB.

According to Jaiswal, the three tax benefits aimed at supporting the local equity market “will not be sufficient to increase market breadth or improve liquidity for the small and mid-cap companies that are already struggling to gain investor interest.”

“In the short term, this could dampen the investor’s confidence about the prospects of sustained growth for SGX's cash equities business,” Jaiswal said.

Banks, on the other, hand will be amongst the main beneficiaries of the Budget 2025 measure.

“A strong GDP growth projection of 1-3%, along with continuing support for firms to not only manage with cost challenges but also explore development prospects, should benefit Singapore banks by keeping asset quality worries at bay,” the analyst said.

The consumer sector will also benefit from Budget 2025, as cash handouts, vouchers, and enhanced wage support will likely boost Singaporeans' purchasing power.

“The benefits from this might potentially extend into domestic consumer sectors like hawker centres, coffee shops, food courts, and supermarkets,” Jaiswal said, adding that retail REITs with suburban mall exposure will also benefit from such measures.

Jaiswal said industrial REITs are also poised for growth, driven by plans to upgrade biosciences and MedTech research facilities and establish a national semiconductor R&D fabrication centre.

Lastly, Jaiswal said the government’s commitment to expanding Singapore’s air hub and public transport network will benefit the aviation and land transport industries in the long term.