{"id":287999,"date":"2026-02-08T23:51:25","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T23:51:25","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/287999\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T23:51:25","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T23:51:25","slug":"budget-season-is-upon-us","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/287999\/","title":{"rendered":"Budget season is upon us"},"content":{"rendered":"

\n Budget 2026 is just around the corner, with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong set to deliver his speech on Thursday, Feb 12.<\/a> He has said that government spending will increase<\/a> as a share of gross domestic product to meet rising needs, but pledged that it will continue to remain within Singapore\u2019s means.\n <\/p>\n

\n What do businesses want from this year\u2019s Budget and, beyond CDC vouchers, what\u2019s on people\u2019s wish lists?\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n On the labour front, with an ageing workforce and artificial intelligence (AI) increasingly shaping jobs and the way people\u00a0 work, Singapore\u2019s largest union, NTUC, has called on the Government and employers to step up support for older workers so they can remain employable and productive.<\/a> Proposed measures include job redesign and skills upgrading, among others.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n As Singapore continues to push ahead with AI adoption and advancement, some business leaders have suggested a form of trust and assurance certification<\/a> to boost the Republic\u2019s credibility in the AI space. Other recommendations<\/a> for the Government\u2019s consideration in Budget 2026 include intellectual property financing, carbon trading and speeding up regional economic integration.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n Those in the food and beverage industry, meanwhile, are hoping for more subsidies to help with labour costs and policies to control rising rents.<\/a> The past two years have seen a spate of closures. Even popular restaurant chains have not been spared, with several high-profile brands either shuttering outlets<\/a> or exiting the market. The Restaurant Association of Singapore has called for government intervention, saying the long-term viability of F&B businesses, particularly small and medium-sized enterprises, is being threatened.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n In a recent update, the Economic Strategy Review committees \u2013 which consulted businesses and workers \u2013 proposed seven strategies<\/a> for Singapore amid the rise of AI and a more uncertain global landscape. Budget 2026 is expected to address some of these.\u00a0\n <\/p>\n

\n As always, ST will bring you live updates on Feb 12, and you can catch the live stream of PM Wong\u2019s speech on our website.<\/a> You can also get key highlights from the speech sent to your inbox in a special-edition Budget newsletter by signing up here.<\/a>\n <\/p>\n

\n Sign up here<\/a> to get The Straits Times Editor’s Picks newsletter sent to your inbox every Friday.\n <\/p>\n

Life After… finding out her father was hanged for drug trafficking when she was two <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Budget 2026 is just around the corner, with Prime Minister Lawrence Wong set to deliver his speech on…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":288000,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[72,113,61,60],"class_list":["post-287999","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-business","tag-economy","tag-ie","tag-ireland"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287999","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=287999"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/287999\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/288000"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=287999"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=287999"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=287999"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}