Singapore plans biggest budget gap in more than two decades

A tourist, wearing a protective facemask amid fears on the spread of the COVID-19 novel coronavirus, taking photographs at Marina Bay in Singapore on Tuesday (Feb 18). Singapore unveiled S$4.6bil in financial packages on Tuesday to deal with the impact of the deadly Covid-19 outbreak, which has battered the economy and sparked fears of a recession. - AFP

SINGAPORE: Singapore will post its biggest budget deficit since at least 1997, pledging S$6.4bil (US$4.6bil) in dedicated support for an economy being slammed by the (Covid-19) coronavirus outbreak.

The deficit will widen to 2.1% of gross domestic product in the year through March 2021 from a projected 0.3% in the current fiscal year, Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat said Tuesday (Feb 18) in Parliament.