ST : Budget may tackle housing, foreigners issue

Feb 19, 2010

Budget may tackle housing, foreigners issue

MPs expect measures to address hot topics and raise productivity

By Cassandra Chew

MPs expect the upcoming Budget on Monday to introduce measures to address the simmering discontent among people over the rising cost of owning a home and the swell in foreigners working here.

They also foresee steps being taken to make it easier for the needy to benefit from the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) scheme for low-wage workers.

Another major subject they expect the Budget to tackle is productivity, with the Government set to offer incentives to improve workers' skills as Singapore aims to raise its productivity by 2 per cent to 3 per cent a year.

These issues were among the dominant recommendations made in the Economic Strategies Committee's recent report. It had called for, among other things, a slowdown in the inflow of foreign workers, greater support for older and low-wage workers, and upskilling workers for higher productivity.

MPs believe that one way to help the needy is to make Workfare more flexible. They include Sembawang GRC's Lim Wee Kiak, Ang Mo Kio GRC's Lee Bee Wah and Hong Kah GRC's Amy Khor.

Their suggested changes: make the payout more frequent and the qualifying criteria more flexible.

Currently, a worker older than 35 and earning less than $1,500 a month can receive Workfare if he works three out of six months. Payments are made twice a year.

Dr Khor also expects the Budget to give training grants for these low-wage workers to upgrade their skills to secure better-paying jobs. 'Unless help is extended to them, there would be a class of workers who will be left behind amid the rapid economic shifts taking place around the world,' she said.

With productivity growth earmarked to fuel Singapore's growth in future, Ms Indranee Rajah, a Tanjong Pagar GRC MP, expects the Government to offer subsidies and incentives to encourage training.

Added Dr Khor: 'There are likely to be more customised training, re-training and skills upgrading programmes for different sectors to suit workers' needs.'

Ms Lee, on the other hand, hopes the Skills Programme for Upgrading and Resilience (Spur), which heavily subsidises worker training, will be expanded to benefit more professionals, managers, executives and technicians, or PMETs.

To further sharpen the distinction between citizens and permanent residents, particularly in public housing, Tampines GRC MP Sin Boon Ann foresees housing subsidies and rebates being adjusted, 'with less for PRs, more for Singaporeans'.

Ms Lee suggested that the income tax structure be strongly discriminated in favour of Singapore citizens.

She also expects funds to be allocated to build new infrastructure in housing estates for the rapidly greying population.

To ensure that health care for the elderly stays affordable, Dr Khor sees the Government topping up Medifund, which helps needy Singaporeans pay their medical expenses, and ElderFund for the elderly poor to settle their hospital bills.

MP Christopher de Souza, of Holland-Bukit Timah GRC, said the new Budget will allow the Government to identify how the previous Budget lifted Singapore out of the recession, list the measures that worked and collate them into a 'battery of best practices' for future reference.

'In the event that we go through difficult times in future, we'll have these measures to see us through,' he added.

Meanwhile, growing chatter about an impending general election has led some to wonder if the upcoming Budget will look like previous pre-election Budgets - plump and laden with goodies for all.

Dr Lim is not hopeful.

'The Government gave out a lot last year to boost the domestic economy. I think they will take back a bit now.'

He said with a laugh: 'No Economic Restructuring Shares or Singapore Shares this year, I think.'

casschew@sph.com.sg