Since the announcement of the Unity Budget a month ago, the
global Covid-19 crisis has engulfed even economic heavyweights such
as the United States. While Singapore is not in a position to steer
the current global economic situation, the Singapore Government has
acted promptly and decisively to further mitigate the impact of the
pandemic domestically. Preliminary economic data shows that the
domestic economy contracted by 2.2 per cent year-on-year in the
first quarter of 2020, and real GDP has been forecasted to contract
by 1 to 4 per cent in 2020. Against this gloomy backdrop, Deputy
Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat introduced the Resilience Budget in a
ministerial statement addressed to Parliament on 26 March 2020. The
Resilience Budget is a supplement to the S$6.4 billion initially
set aside to tackle Covid-19 under the Unity Budget, as announced
in the Budget 2020. The Resilience Budget, valued at S$48 billion,
dwarfs the S$20.5 billion stimulus package unveiled in the
