For individuals, this means the building of strong learning foundations in the schooling years, retraining and reskilling through life, and help with job matching and career transition. For businesses, this could mean help with the green transition and digitalisation, securing investments as well as capturing opportunities abroad.
Structural measures to keep business costs and the cost of living manageable are also critical. These include ensuring an adequate supply of land and housing in anticipation of future needs, diversifying food and other import sources, managing healthcare costs and ensuring cost-effectiveness in the provision of public services.
SPENDING WELL
How much the government disburses to households and citizens through the Budget depends on both needs and the availability of resources, quite apart from whether an election is imminent.
The seven-hour debate in parliament on Feb 7 on the use of national reserves focused on how much is appropriate to spend from investment returns on the reserves. In fact, how the government spends is as important or more than how much it spends.
Countries that spend more than Singapore on education and healthcare as a percentage of gross domestic product do not necessarily obtain better outcomes in educational or health outcomes. The key lies in spending efficiently, by designing public programmes that are evidence-based and aligned with individual incentives.
Upstream intervention in areas such as education, healthcare and crime prevention can produce better outcomes while saving on costly downstream expenditure. For instance, the KidSTART programme supports lower-income families to give young children a good start in life, while Healthier SG promotes healthy living and preventive care.
Government spending should also aim to crowd in rather than crowd out the efforts of the private and people sector.