Singapore Government Press Release
Media Division, Ministry of Information and The Arts,
MITA Building, 140 Hill Street, 2^nd Storey, Singapore 179369
Tel: 837-9666

Mr Speaker, Sir

We are starting off on a good footing in the new millennium. Last year, our economy outperformed expectations and grew by 9.9 percent, a rate not exceeded since 1994 (The economic growth rate in 1994 was 11.4 percent).

All sectors enjoyed higher growth in 2000. In particular, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade grew by a strong 15 percent. Financial and business services rebounded from marginal growth in 1999, to 4.1 percent and 6.6 percent respectively. The contraction of the construction sector continued, but was less severe than that in 1999, and showed signs of reversal.

Strong external demand was the cause of growth. The world economy is estimated to have expanded by 4.7 percent in 2000, the highest growth rate in 12 years. In particular, the US economy was the key driver behind global demand. The bursting of the dot-com bubble did not stop the US from registering a stellar growth of 5.0 percent last year.

Electronics, which was a major engine for the recovery in 1999, continued to take centre-stage in 2000. Global semiconductors sales surged by a remarkable 31 percent, up from 19 percent in 1999. This gave our manufacturing sector a strong boost, with major downstream benefits for many other sectors.

2000 was also a great year for investment promotion. Manufacturing investment commitments reached a record $9.2 billion. Many of these were in key knowledge-intensive industries like pharmaceuticals and high-end electronics that will position us well for future growth. EDB also secured $1.9 billion of commitments in total business spending for services last year. Against the uncertain political environment in Southeast Asia and competition from China, the achievements of EDB were especially remarkable.

Our job market benefited from the strong economic growth in 2000. More than 110,000 jobs were created, far surpassing the 40,000 in 1999. Retrenchments tailed off, falling from 14,600 in 1999 to 11,500 last year. As a result, the seasonally-adjusted unemployment rate fell to 2.8 percent in December 2000.

This strong economic performance was due not only to fortuitous external developments, but also to our sound economic policies and the hard work of Singaporeans. Full credit should go to our workers, who have patiently put up with the CPF cut. This was instrumental in retaining investor confidence and enabling our industries to stay globally competitive, as we rode out the Asian economic crisis. In recognition of the strong growth, another 4 percentage points have been restored to the employers’ CPF contribution rate last month, bringing it to 16 percent.

But while our overall economic performance was very good, not all businesses benefited. Besides the construction sector, some industries like wood and paper products, and retail segments such as watch, jewellery and neighbourhood shops, did not do well. Many SMEs were not able to benefit from the strong global demand. The robust growth was also not reflected in the asset markets. The STI ended 22 percent lower last year, while the residential property price index dipped 1.0 percent.

We cannot repeat the exceptional performance of 2000 this year. While the overall outlook for 2001 remains fair, we must be prepared for slower growth.

External economic prospects have become less rosy. The US economy has decelerated quite sharply in the past few months. Poorer corporate results and weak stock markets have begun to feed through to slower consumption and investment. The chances of a hard landing have increased, prompting the Federal Reserve to cut interest rates by 100 basis points so far this year. The consensus is that the US economy will grow by only 2 to 2.5 percent this year. But if it turns out lower, we will be in for harder times ahead.

The Japanese economy is expected to remain weak this year. In fact, its recovery is showing signs of stalling. Household expenditure has remained anaemic due to job worries and continuing deflation. Japanese exports are already slowing on the back of weaker US demand. These could in turn dampen business investments.

Fortunately, growth in Europe should be able to provide some support for the slowing external demand. Although growth in Europe peaked last year, it should remain healthy at about 3 percent in 2001, underpinned by robust consumption.

Similarly, global electronics demand will moderate from its stellar growth of last year. Some industry watchers expect sales of semiconductors to slow significantly from the heady 31 percent growth last year to just 5-10 percent this year. But continued healthy demand in segments such as PCs and telecommunications products will provide some support for growth in the electronics sector.

The slowdown in the US economy and electronics demand will affect the region. While Asia has, by and large, bounced back from the crisis, it has not yet been nursed back to full health. Asian banking systems remain weak, and there is still much restructuring to be done. In several Asian countries, internal political problems add to their complications.

We need to keep a close watch on the dark clouds looming in the horizon. But there is no ground for excessive gloom. Domestically, the composite leading index continues to point to growth ahead. The business expectations survey shows that firms in the financial services, catering and hotel segments expect business to improve in the next 6 months. While manufacturers have turned cautious about growth prospects in the next 6 months, the new plants coming on stream this year in the electronics, chemicals and life sciences industries will help to buttress growth. The construction sector is also bottoming out and looks set to register positive growth this year.

Although the global economy is likely to become more volatile, we are well positioned to ride out the fluctuations. Our restructuring efforts and upgrading over the years have paid off and we now have a more diversified and resilient economy. We have a strong manufacturing sector and a good spectrum of thriving services. Our domestic exports are fairly well spread out among the major markets of United States, European Union and Asia. Although we have a dominant electronics sector, we are steadily building up our chemicals cluster. Even within electronics, there is strong diversification. Semiconductors and telecom equipment have emerged as new growth drivers, as our production share of disk drives and PCs declines. The external wing of our economy is firming up and regionalisation efforts are paying off. Income from abroad has risen by more than 8 per cent on average for each year between 1990 and 2000. This provides a supplementary source of earnings for our economy.

It is this broad and robust economic base which has enabled us to emerge from the Asian economic crisis relatively unscathed. In fact, in relative terms, we have come out of the Asian crisis stronger and are able to start the new millennium on a solid footing. With this year’s budget, the Government will continue to facilitate the upgrading and restructuring of our economy.

For this year, taking all factors into account, the Ministry of Trade and Industry forecasts a growth of 5 to 7 percent. But if the external environment turns for the worse, it can have a substantial impact on our growth, given our very open economy. We will continue to monitor the situation closely.

Mr Speaker, Sir

I move on now to the Budget for Fiscal Year 2001.

Before I do so, I would first like to recap on the FY2000 Budget and touch on changes made to improve the presentation of the Budget in the Budget Book.

When I presented the FY2000 Budget to the House last year, operating revenue was estimated at $31.4 billion and total expenditure at $29 billion, yielding a budget surplus of $2.4 billion.

However, last year’s GDP growth of 9.9 percent exceeded all expectations. As a result, revenue growth has turned out to be much stronger. On the other hand, total expenditure is expected to be about $1 billion lower at $28 billion. The lower expenditure is due to reduced development spending, partly offset by unforeseen compensation payments to Singtel and Starhub. In addition, last year, Government also announced several surplus sharing measures totalling $1.8 billion which included the CPF Top-up, the Medishield Scheme for the Elderly and contributions to the Eldercare Fund and the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund.

Taking into account all these changes, a budget surplus of $3.5 billion is now forecast for FY2000. However, this budget surplus cannot be directly compared with the forecast made in February last year because of several changes made to the presentation of the FY2000 budget. I will now explain the rationale underlying these changes.

In January this year, I moved the Constitutional Amendment Bill to require the government to protect at least 50 percent of the Net Investment Income (or NII) earned from past reserves. The issue of whether or not to protect NII was one that the government has carefully considered for a long time. Previously, NII used to accrue fully to current reserves and was all spendable.

The composition of operating revenue has since been changed to include a new item called "NII Contribution". This is the portion of NII that is available for the government-of-the-day to spend. NII now also incorporates interest earnings from developmental loans which have been classified under the item "Others". The item "Others" is consequently much smaller.

Government has also reclassified expenditure on land reclamation projects. These are projects which help to build up the nation’s land bank for long-term use. They were previously funded as development expenditure using current revenues. This arrangement could be a disincentive for future governments to take on such projects as benefits would only accrue in the long term. While this government has not shrunk from carrying out reclamation projects, we should make changes to address this potential problem to ensure that such projects continue to be undertaken by future governments.

Land reclamation should be viewed as a long-term investment. From FY 2001, expenditures on land reclamation will be funded from capital receipts from land sales. Such expenditures are reflected as land-related expenditures in the Budget Book.

In addition to the changes I have outlined above, refinements have also been made to the sectoral classification of ministries. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has been shifted to the newly renamed "Security and External Relations" sector, while Ministry of National Development has been transferred to the "Social Development" sector. These changes have been made to better reflect the main functions of the two ministries. For the same reason, the sector "General Services" has also been renamed "Government Administration".

Let me now move on to the FY2001 Budget proper.

Budget time is a time to take stock of the economy and the government’s work in the past year. This year is an especially opportune time to look back and see how far we have come, as well as look forward to where we are headed for the future.

Over the past thirty-five years, the Singapore economy has undergone many changes, as we continually adjust to global conditions in search of sustained economic growth. Because of the hard work, enterprise and unity of all Singaporeans, we have been able to seize new growth opportunities as they present themselves. We have created a resilient and prosperous economy that has weathered many storms.

Today, the new millennium ushers in a new age in which ideas, knowledge and talent are the main drivers of growth. It is an era where it is the economies that are best able to generate and attract wealth-creating ideas, knowledge and people that will succeed. Therein lies great opportunity for Singapore – a country whose greatest advantages are its people, and its connectivity to the rest of the world. By positioning ourselves as a knowledge-based economy, and leveraging on our strengths, we can ride the waves of change, and continue to lift living standards in Singapore.

Now, as in the past, the government and people of Singapore must come together and make the necessary changes to our economy, to ensure that Singapore remains the best home for all.

While we make these adjustments to anticipate and embrace global trends and changes, we must continue to be mindful of our local context: those who can run faster should pave the way for the rest; however, those who may be unwittingly left behind must not be left with no help.

The government realises that realignments of our economy have often meant displacement of jobs, or even disappearance of industries, but for every door closed, we have opened many others, leading to greater opportunities.

We understand that it is not easy for workers to continually learn new skills and work in a new environment, or for enterprises to quickly change direction and pursue business prospects in new areas. It takes a great deal of courage to embrace changes, and take the steps to walk through new doors of opportunity. The transition often entails adjustments which are sometimes painful. But we want to help. We want to lessen the hardship for those who find it difficult to adapt to the changes. But change we must. And at the end of the day, we have to ensure that every Singaporean has a place in the Singapore of the new millennium.

The main thrusts of this year’s budget are therefore: at the macro level, to position Singapore for a new era of growth, by increasing our attractiveness not only to businesses as a place to invest in, but also to individuals as a place to live and work in. And at the micro level, to give every individual worker the wherewithal to weather this difficult but necessary period of transition to this new stage of economic growth, to assist promising business enterprises in getting established, and to help businesses in dying trades shift out to other industries.

I will now touch on the FY2001 fiscal position.

Operating revenue for FY2001 is estimated at $34.3 billion, including a $0.9 billion contribution from NII. Operating and development expenditures are budgeted at $18.7 billion and $9.4 billion respectively. Total expenditure in FY2001 thus comes to $28.1 billion. Special transfers will total $1.9 billion.

As in previous years, the largest share of the Government’s FY2001 expenditure budget goes to the Social Development sector, which accounts for 43.4 percent of total expenditure. Education, Health, Community Development & Sports, Information & the Arts and Public Housing will all get substantial increases in their budget allocation. These increases are in line with the Government’s policy of educating the young, and looking after the people’s welfare, health, cultural and housing needs.

The next largest sector is the Security & External Relations sector. We will continue to invest heavily in the security of our nation and in building warm ties with other countries. Although this sector takes up 36.6 percent of the total expenditure budget, it is money well spent, for without peace and security, we would not have secure homes and economic growth.

Economic Development is the third largest sector. This sector takes up 15.0 percent of the total expenditure budget. It represents our continued investment in infrastructure, creation of new economic activities and comprehensive development of our workforce.

The Government Administration sector remains the smallest sector, comprising 5.0 percent of the total expenditure budget. We will continue to keep this the smallest sector as our policy is to keep central administration small and let operational ministries have the bulk of the resources.

The ideas and entrepreneurial spirit of individuals and businesses are the foundation of our new knowledge-based economy. Innovation and enterprise will be the key drivers of this new economy. More than ever before, positioning ourselves for the future can only be done in a broad way at the national level. Ultimately, it is up to companies and individuals to identify specific commercial opportunities and threats and respond accordingly.

What the government can and will do, however, is to continue to ensure an environment that is pro-business, encourages individual effort and the drive for innovation, and facilitates the blossoming of new ideas. At the same time, the government will continue to create the conditions to attract and retain talented Singaporeans and foreigners to live in and contribute to Singapore.

In the latest World Competitiveness Yearbook ranking, we retained our overall standing as the world's second most competitive economy after the United States. We were also ranked the country that was best-adapted for long-term competitiveness, and the economy whose companies and government take the shortest time to adapt to changes in the economic cycle.

However, rather than making us rest on our laurels, these positive showings in international rankings must spur us on to keep up and not fall back. The global challenge demands continuous effort. Country after country is pushing on, reducing taxes to be more competitive, cutting back on social expenditure they can no longer sustain, all wishing to build the next Silicon Valley.

Studies such as that by the Political & Economic Risk Consultancy Ltd., or PERC have pointed out that one critical area for improvement is the quality of manpower. We recognise that human capital will be our competitive edge for our next phase of economic development. We must develop our human capital pool to the fullest.

In order for Singapore to succeed in our next phase of economic development, we will require a different type of workforce—one that is able to acquire, apply and create knowledge in flexible and innovative ways to generate greater value.

Based on the jobs that Singapore expects to create in 10 to 15 years, we require a workforce where 65 percent have at least post-secondary education.

However, as of 1999, only 35 percent of our workforce have post-secondary education or higher. There is thus a risk of workers being structurally displaced if they do not upgrade or learn new skills.

The government is addressing this issue through a multi-pronged approach. First, we will continue to invest heavily in education to ensure that new entrants to the workforce are well-equipped to meet the challenges of the new millennium. Our students must be equipped with the right skill sets for the knowledge age, which include creativity and critical reasoning skills. For this, the Ministry of Education is allocated a budget of $6.3 billion, the second largest amongst all the ministries.

Second, we will also be spending more than $30 million on the Manpower Development Assistance Scheme (or MDAS) and other initiatives that will help everyone in the workforce upgrade their skills and knowledge continuously.

Third, to promote lifelong learning, Government has set up the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund announced by the Prime Minister last August. The government is contributing the first $500 million to the fund in FY 2000. I am happy to announce that the government will contribute another $500 million to the Fund in FY2001. This will bring the Fund to $1 billion.

This will equip our workers with the skills to take on existing and new jobs, create new products and services and capture new markets in this new stage of economic development.

However, even as we try to maximise the potential of our people, we can never produce enough to meet all the talent needs of our economy. We must continue to draw the best and brightest from the world to our shores. Besides adopting a welcoming attitude to foreigners and talent-friendly immigration policies, we need to be attractive as a place to work, live and play.

We must continue to promote a competitive domestic market. Competition begins at home. Our firms cannot compete globally if they cannot compete locally. Local competition will spur them to be more efficient, creative and innovative. Besides, competition will benefit consumers by moderating prices, improving service, and increasing product choice.

We will continue to deregulate our economy. We have opened up the telecommunications sector with a big bang. We are progressively liberalising the financial sector. We are gearing up for a full opening of the electricity and gas markets this year. We will refine these policies in the light of experience.

We have made significant progress in the setting up of a new energy market regime since its announcement by the government in March last year. Amongst other measures, for the electricity industry, the system and market operation functions will be transferred from PowerGrid to the Energy Market Authority of Singapore (EMA).

The retail sector of the energy market will be liberalised in phases. Beginning later this year, the market for large consumers will be progressively made contestable. The retail market for the remaining one million consumers will only be opened up after 2002 as all households are affected and a detailed study will have to be done.

The gas industry will be restructured in a similar way to support a competitive framework for the electricity industry. The ownership of the gas transportation business, which is a natural monopoly, will be separated from the contestable sectors of gas import, trading and retail.

As our economy transits into a knowledge-based economy and a new stage of economic growth, we will promote growth sectors and high value-added industries which will help us move up the value chain. The government will encourage the emergence of promising local businesses in such growth sectors. Businesses in sunset industries will be helped to move out to other more profitable sectors.

The government will continue to support R&D efforts in order to add value to industry and move the country towards higher value, knowledge-intensive economic growth. Our R&D efforts have produced positive results to date. They have helped workers in R&D companies increase the value they add to their jobs, and also helped raise the share of high-tech exports from Singapore— from 52 percent of non-oil domestic exports in 1990 to 66 percent in 2000.

Over the years, the amount committed by Government has more than doubled, from $2 billion allocated for the first 5-year National Technology plan to $4 billion for the second 5-year Plan (NSTP2000). The next phase of our R&D plan is the $7 billion Science & Technology Plan 2005 (S&T 2005), which will last 5 years from 2001 to 2005.

In FY2001, we will spend a total of $625 million in this area to support activities and programmes that will serve to strengthen industry R&D, develop R&D manpower capability, promote technopreneurship, enhance knowledge infrastructure and promote economically relevant international R&D.

To promote life-sciences, EDB has set up a $1 billion R&D fund and a $1 billion investment fund to attract life-sciences R&D and start-up activities. A pharmaceutical park will be developed at Tuas, and space for life sciences facilities will be set aside at the Buona Vista Science Hub. Manpower capabilities for the life sciences are also being developed through various programmes.

To raise the performance of local enterprises, the Productivity and Standards Board (PSB) will help firms to modernise management, adopt IT and increase efficiency. It will assist companies in restructuring and moving up the value chain, or moving into growing ones. This will help to rejuvenate the business scene and allow resources to be re-deployed efficiently.

For those local enterprises that are promising, we will continue to help groom them into world-class companies. The existing Economic Development Assistance Scheme (EDAS) provides local firms with technical assistance and training, and helps them to adopt new technologies, amongst other initiatives.

For businesses which are not doing well or facing shrinking business prospects, we want to help them cope with the change either by upgrading and modernising their operations, or shifting to industries with better prospects. The retail sector is an area the government has looked into with relevant public and private agencies. The Singapore Productivity & Standards Board will be releasing a 10-year strategic plan titled Retail 21 shortly. This plan examines the challenges faced by the retail sector, and sets out new strategies for growth and expansion of the sector. The objective of Retail 21 is to double retail workforce productivity by the year 2010. We look forward to hearing the recommendations of Retail 21.

One group of enterprises within the retail sector that needs particular assistance is the neighbourhood shops, markets and hawker centres in HDB estates. The Minister for National Development assured the House yesterday that the government will lend them a helping hand. We will be introducing a programme that includes elements of upgrading assistance, incentives to help ease the retirement of operators who wish to do so, and re-training for alternative employment and trades. The focus of the programme is thus not just on short term remedies, but also on long-term restructuring for the benefit of all concerned. The Ministry of National Development will provide more details of this Assistance Programme during the Committee of Supply proceedings.

All these efforts have a common goal—to facilitate restructuring, and help our companies move up the value chain and into growing industries.

Singapore has thrived by being plugged into the global economic network. In fact, we have just been ranked the most globalised economy in the world. Last year’s total trade of $470 billion was about 3 times our GDP. We will continue to strengthen our economic linkages with the rest of the world. So while Singapore remains committed to the launch of a new multilateral trade round at WTO, we are also pursuing deeper trade liberalisation initiatives with like-minded countries through bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTAs).

Our first bilateral FTA with New Zealand has already gone into operation. This year, we aim to conclude FTAs with Australia, Japan, Mexico and the US. We are also in exploratory talks with Canada, India and the European Free Trade Association (EFTA). Through these FTAs that span across regions and continents, we hope to anchor Singapore firmly as a global trading node.

Closer to home, we will continue to work towards greater economic integration with our neighbours through the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA), ASEAN Investment Area (AIA), and e-ASEAN initiatives. Deeper economic integration will enhance ASEAN’s attractiveness as a destination for global foreign direct investments (FDIs). This is particularly crucial, given the rise of China and the inevitable diversion of FDI to Northeast Asia.

Promoting global free trade and regional economic cooperation will help Singapore to continue to do well in the global economy.

A forward-looking government must continuously anticipate and welcome change, and harness the forces of change in the global environment. The Government must deliver services in a responsive and timely way.

E-government is the Public Service’s response to the increasing pervasiveness of ICT or info-communications technology. The advent of ICT has triggered rising public expectations of service standards. We are leveraging on ICT to build an e-government for the 21^st century, and put government services as well as intra-government transactions online.

E-government will be a major transformation in the delivery of government services. The government will be able to provide services faster, more efficiently, and in a more convenient way. By the end of 2001, nearly two-thirds of all government services will be available online in some form or other, making them accessible 24 hours a day.

However, all these will be wasted time and energy if the public does not adjust to a different way of seeking and receiving the services they want. Public officers, too, must adjust to faster transaction speeds and the tearing down of organisational boundaries.

Just as for other changes that are necessary for Singapore’s transition into the knowledge age, the government is the facilitator who will put into place the infrastructure to help Singaporeans improve their living standards, but ultimately it is up to individual Singaporeans to make the choice and take the necessary steps. In this case, it means acquainting themselves with ICT or overcoming mindsets about traditional forms of service delivery. Only then can we ensure that we get the most value out of the ICT revolution to improve our living standards.

Mr Speaker, Sir

Let me now turn to the proposals for tax changes and other provisions.

The government is committed to creating the best conditions for private enterprise to flourish, while adhering to the principles of fiscal prudence. Our aim has always been to keep business costs down wherever possible and to ensure that our corporate tax rate remains competitive. In recent years, many developed economies such as Germany, United Kingdom, Australia and Ireland have lowered corporate tax rates in order to stimulate and attract investments. We have to keep pace.

Furthermore, in the New Economy, picking winners will become harder. Hence, while we will continue to provide tax incentives to spur the growth of strategic industries, we will also lower the tax rate generally so that new industries can mushroom and thrive.

Last year, our corporate tax rate was reduced by half a percentage point to 25.5 percent. This year I have decided to reduce the corporate tax rate by a further one percentage point to 24.5 percent, to take effect from YA2002. This will help us maintain our tax competitiveness in an increasingly globalised world. It will also help lower the tax burden of businesses in Singapore in the coming year when economic growth is likely to be less robust.

The government also recognises that small businesses are an important component of the Singapore economy. To help such companies, I have decided to introduce a tax exemption scheme that will help them grow and get established.

With effect from YA2002, three-quarters of up to the first $10,000 of a company's chargeable income, and one-half of up to the next $90,000 will be exempt from corporate tax. The remaining chargeable income will be taxed at the newly lowered rate of 24.5 percent.

This means that many small and medium enterprises and start-ups will have their taxes reduced by more than half, for the same chargeable income. Based on current data, about two-thirds of taxable companies will be taxed at less than half the previous tax rate. Companies, most particularly smaller enterprises, can look forward to being able to plough more of their profits back to their businesses to exploit growth opportunities.

All companies, not just the small and medium-sized ones, will enjoy the tax exemption. The benefits passed on to companies arising from the lower corporate tax rate under this new tax regime are estimated to amount to $680 million annually. This overall lowering of the tax burden is a demonstration of the government’s resolve to keep our corporate tax rate competitive globally, and our belief in the importance of creating a pro-business environment that is conducive to entrepreneurship.

The tax exemption will not apply to Singapore dividends received by companies. Such dividends will be taxed at 24.5 percent. IRAS will release further details on how the new corporate tax regime is to be applied.

In today's environment, the most successful businesses will be those that are able to motivate their employees to greater innovation and enterprise. Performance-linked compensation systems, such as employee stock option schemes, can be powerful tools to achieve this objective.

As a special provision for start-ups, I introduced the Entrepreneurial Employee Stock Option Scheme last May where 50 percent of stock option gains is exempted from income tax for employees of such companies.

At that time, I indicated I would introduce a separate scheme that would be available to the more established companies. Today, I am glad to announce the "Company Stock Option" scheme, or the CSOP scheme for short.

Under the scheme, income tax exemption will be granted for up to $1 million worth of stock option gains arising from the exercise of the employee's options over a 10-year period. Out of the $1 million, the first $2,000 worth of gains each year will be given 100 percent tax exemption. This makes the scheme very attractive for the lower-paid employees. In addition, I have also decided to exempt from income tax 25 percent of the remaining gains. Coupled with the absence of capital gains taxes and our low personal tax rates, the taxation of employee stock option gains in Singapore will be very attractive.

The CSOP scheme will be available to all companies that meet certain conditions. One key condition that companies have to satisfy before they can qualify for the scheme is that they will have to offer the stock options to at least half the employees in the company. This is to encourage companies to provide the benefits of the scheme to lower-paid workers as well. The scheme will be available to options granted with effect from 1 April 2001. Details of the scheme can be found in Annex 1.

Technological advances have made the use of info-communications technology or ICT, and consequently software, increasingly widespread. We foresee a future in which almost all products and services will require the use of software either in their production or operation.

We want to lower the cost of doing business in Singapore, as well as encourage our businesses to make the best use of technology. The government is also committed to creating an environment that is conducive to the growth of e-commerce.

With these in mind, and as part of our continuing efforts to enhance Singapore's competitiveness, I have decided that payments for the following categories of software made to non-residents will be exempted from withholding tax. These are: site licences, software downloaded from the Internet by end-users, and software bundled with hardware. This change will take effect for payments due on or after today.

Increasingly, intangible assets such as intellectual properties and their exploitation will be a significant source of competitive advantage in the Knowledge Economy.

To enhance Singapore’s competitiveness in this respect, I have decided to improve the current incentive scheme relating to patents and know-how. The improved scheme extends the scope of coverage to more categories of intellectual properties. Writing down allowances over a 5-year period will be granted for capital expenditure incurred on the following categories of intellectual properties acquired on or after today:

Patents;

Copyrights and Related Rights;

Trade Marks;

Registered Designs;

Geographical Indications;

Layout Designs of Integrated Circuits; and

Protection of Confidential Information.

This improved scheme will also cover a wider range of industries. It will be administered by EDB and IDA. Details will be released by them shortly.

In order to reduce business costs, I have decided to cut the property tax rate from 12 to 10 percent. This will improve Singapore’s cost competitiveness vis-a-vis other countries. The cut will apply to all properties: commercial, industrial and residential. It will cost the government an estimated $336 million a year.

The cut in property tax rate will take effect from 1 July 2001, when the 25 percent property tax rebate for commercial and industrial properties ends. The reduction will be particularly helpful to small businesses that are tenants of JTC and HDB properties. These businesses have been the main beneficiaries of the property tax rebate for industrial and commercial properties, passed on by the JTC, HDB and other landlords. The government would like to encourage all landlords to pass on savings from the property tax rate cut to their tenants.

To reduce the tax burden for individuals, as well as reward individual effort and enterprise, I have decided to cut income tax rates of all income bands with effect from YA2002. The tax rates of all bands will be reduced by between two to five percentage points. The top marginal tax rate will be reduced from the current 28 percent to 26 percent. All individual taxpayers will pay less tax, with the majority paying at least 25 percent less tax.

In percentage terms, lower-income and middle-income taxpayers will benefit most. An individual earning $35,000 a year will enjoy tax savings of about 30 percent. Taxpayers who earn $100,000 a year will enjoy savings of about 20 percent.

In 1994, we introduced GST and at the same time gave taxpayers a $700 GST-related income tax rebate to soften the initial impact of GST. The rebate was lowered by $50 each year until it reached $500 in YA 1998. In order to streamline the individual tax structure, I have decided to reduce the rebate over time, and incorporate its benefits into the individual tax structure. To this end, the first $7,500 of an individual’s chargeable income will not be taxed, and the $500 GST-related income tax rebate will be reduced to $250 correspondingly, as a first step.

The net effect of all these changes to the individual income tax regime is to make all taxpayers better off.

Cutting personal tax rates will lower the tax burden of workers and encourage individual effort. Competitive personal tax rates will also help Singapore retain its local talent and attract new foreign talent.

The above measures will result in tax savings of $300 million a year for taxpayers. The new income tax rates are attached in Annex 2.

Currently self-employed persons can claim tax relief for CPF contributions amounting to 20 percent of their income or $14,400, whichever is lower. Essentially this is only the employee’s portion of the CPF contributions for employees of companies.

In the knowledge-based economy, we can expect more people to be self-employed. They should be encouraged to save for their old age to the same extent as those who are employees. The self-employed is, in a way, both employer and employee. Today, he is granted tax deductions for CPF contributions up to what employees are required to contribute for their ordinary wages.

This policy will be adjusted so that self-employed persons basically receive the same tax benefits from the CPF scheme as both employer and employee combined with effect from YA 2002. A self-employed person will get tax relief for CPF contributions amounting to 36 percent of his income, subject to a maximum income of $72,000. This way, entrepreneurs running their own businesses will not be disadvantaged. Self-employed persons will be more motivated to save for their retirement by voluntarily contributing more to their CPF accounts. The tax benefits they will gain from this policy change will amount to $6m or more per year. This change will take effect for CPF contributions made from this year.

The key to our ability to stay focused, act as a nation and make the necessary strategic changes in our economy lies in the unity of our people. We must continue to build on the social cohesion and political stability that we have painstakingly developed over the years.

The government will help those who are facing difficulties in the transition period as our economy restructures. In the short run, the government will provide temporary assistance to those who need help to tide over hard times. In the long term, the best way to help them is to give them the means to help themselves, through education, training and retraining.

This year’s package of "share-outs" will be the most generous to date. This package is possible both because of our past adherence to the principles of fiscal prudence and the hard work of all Singaporeans, that have allowed us to build up a substantial surplus. Sharing the budget surplus is an important way by which everyone benefits from the nation’s success.

Eligible Singaporeans have, in January this year, received the first payment of the $500 to $1,700 CPF Top-up announced by the Prime Minister in August last year. The second payment, costing $1 billion, will be given within 12 months. The CPF Top-up is a tangible way of sharing the nation’s success with Singaporeans. It was also unique in that it was the first time that a CPF Top-up was structured to give more to those in the lower income group.

Because of the good performance of the economy in 2000, an across-the-board one-off tax rebate of 10 percent on individual income tax will be granted in YA 2001, up from the 5 percent for YA 2000. This is another way of sharing budget surpluses with taxpayers. It will save taxpayers a total of $485 million.

As an extension of the utilities rebates given to HDB households from 1997 to 2000, the government will be giving utilities rebates totalling $350 to households living in 1 to 3-room HDB flats, $300 to households living in 4-room flats and $250 to households living in 5-room flats. These will be given in 10 equal monthly payments from July 2001 to April 2002. There will be two months in the year in which households have to make full payments, so that they will be encouraged to save on water and electricity. As such, this scheme will be renamed Utilities Save.

Households living in 1 to 3-room HDB flats will get $35 a month, those in 4-room HDB flats $30 a month and those in 5-room HDB flats $25 a month. Any unutilised amount of the Utilities Save given in any month will be rolled over to be used in the subsequent months. This Utilities Save scheme is more generous than the $100 and $200 utilities rebates given last year and amounts to a total of $226 million.

The government will extend and increase the rebates on HDB Service and Conservancy (S&C) charges and rentals granted over recent years to Singaporeans living in rented and owner-occupied HDB flats. The new package will be the most generous to date.

Households living in 1-room flats will receive rental rebates of $12 per month, rebates for S&C charges of $8 per month, four months’ net rent and five months’ net S&C charges.

Households living in 2-room flats will receive rental rebates of $8 per month, rebates for S&C charges of $7 per month, two months’ net rent and four months’ net S&C charges.

Households which live in 3-room flats will be given rebates of $4 per month for S&C charges and four months’ net S&C charges.

As for households living in 4-room and 5-room flats, they will be entitled to three months and two months of net S&C charges respectively. More details can be found in Annex 3.

The estimated cost of the entire package of rebates is $107 million. Low-income households which do not live in HDB flats can continue to receive help from the Citizens Consultative Committees (CCCs) Assistance Scheme.

To help pensioners drawing low pensions cope with inflation, the government introduced an ex-gratia allowance called the Singapore Allowance in April 1974. This ex-gratia allowance is an additional payment over and above the pensions that the government pays to pensioners residing in Singapore.

The Singapore Allowance was last revised in August 1997, when the quantum was increased by $10, from $130 to $140 per month, and the gross pension ceiling raised from $900 to $950.

The government has decided to increase the Singapore Allowance further by $10 to $150 per month, and raise the gross pension ceiling from the current $950 to $1,050 per month. The revision will give an additional $1.7 million a year to pensioners residing in Singapore, of which there are about 12,100. The change will take effect from 1 April 2001.

While the government is taking the lead in ensuring that the fruits of success are shared with the less fortunate in society, we hope that Singaporeans who are better off will choose to give more back to society by way of time, expertise and donation.

In addition to current tax deductibility for donations to qualifying institutions, I have decided to make the donation of shares tax deductible also. This opens up another avenue for charitable donations, and is a recognition of the fact that a rising number of companies are using shares as a form of remuneration for their employees.

As a start, tax deductions will be granted to individuals who donate to Institutions of a Public Character (IPCs) shares which are listed on the SGX and unit trusts readily tradable in Singapore. The concession will apply to donations made from January 2001.

$1 billion is being proposed for the second payment of the CPF Top-up of $500 to $1,700 announced by the Prime Minister in August last year. In addition, the government is proposing to contribute another $500 million to the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund, bringing the total to $1 billion.

The ElderCare Fund was set up to help lower-income and lower-middle income households with the cost of nursing home care, while the Medical Endowment Fund helps lower-income individuals with their medical bills so as to ensure that no one will be left without access to medical care because they cannot afford it.

To further build up the ElderCare Fund and the Medical Endowment Fund, the government will contribute $250 million to the ElderCare Fund (bringing the total to $750 million) and $100 million to the Medical Endowment Fund (bringing the total to $800 million) in FY2001.

As part of our continuing national effort to discourage smoking, especially among our youth, the excise duty on cigarettes will be increased from $150 to $180 per kilogram. Duties on cigarettes were last revised in February 2000. The change will take effect from today. The estimated revenue gain is $102 million per year.

The objective of Budget 2001 at the macro level is to position Singapore for the challenges of the global economy in the new millennium.

The cuts in the corporate and property tax rates, the new corporate tax structure, and the exemption of withholding tax on software payments—these will all lower business costs, and help us maintain our international competitiveness as a business location.

However, as the global economy becomes more knowledge-based, to maintain competitiveness, it is no longer sufficient for us to just cut costs, or wring the last bit of efficiency out of existing systems. Innovations and new ideas will play an increasingly important role in creating wealth for companies in Singapore, and consequently, for Singapore as a nation.

This is why we are encouraging productivity and entrepreneurship, through the new corporate tax structure favouring small enterprises and startups, a more favourable treatment towards stock options for employees of all companies and not just start-ups, and raising the tax exemption limits on voluntary CPF contributions by the self-employed.

At the same time, we will help our companies to move up the value chain and into growing industries by our $868 million spending in R&D and the Economic Development Assistance Scheme, and give assistance to local enterprises as they adapt to changing market conditions.

Though businesses are important, even more important are the people. This is why we are investing nearly $7 billion in the education of our children and continuous training of our people, through our investment in educational institutions, the Manpower Development Assistance Scheme, and the Lifelong Learning Endowment Fund, among many other ways.

At the same time, the government will continue to create the conditions to attract and retain talented Singaporeans and foreigners to live in and contribute to Singapore.

The objective of this year’s budget at a micro level is, as I mentioned earlier, to help everyone in Singapore make a successful transition into the knowledge-based economy. Education and re-training are key. Adjustment takes time and effort. The lowly skilled are in greatest danger of losing their jobs. The lower-paid need the most help, but most of all they must want to help themselves. The government can lend a helping hand in the process. We are therefore implementing a slew of measures to ease the financial burden on individuals, and share the economic surplus that we enjoyed in year 2000.

We are cutting individual income tax rates significantly, giving a one-off 10 percent tax rebate on individual income tax, continuing with rebates on S&C charges and rents, and helping HDB households through the Utilities Save scheme. This package of measures has been intentionally designed to be progressive, to benefit the less well-off more.

While we focus on enabling the economically active to adapt better in the new millennium, we do not want to forget the others. This is the reason for allowing the tax deduction of shares donation to IPCs to encourage philanthropy, as well as the government’s contribution of $250 million to the ElderCare Fund and $100 million to the Medical Endowment Fund.

There is a place for everyone in Singapore, and everyone will benefit from good governance. It will take effort and even a fair amount of difficulty to reach where we, as a nation, want to get to. This Budget serves to encourage everyone to stay united and succeed together.

Up to $1 million of gains from the exercise of Company Stock Options ("CSOPs") over ten years will be partially exempt from income tax. The exemption is as follows:

100% of the first $2,000 gains annually; and 25% of the remaining annual gains.

The 10-year period commences from the year the employee first exercises the CSOPs.

The CSOP Scheme is available to all stock options granted with effect from 1 April 2001 by a qualifying company under a Company Stock Option Plan to an employee to acquire ordinary shares of the qualifying company.

The Scheme will be subject to review after 5 years.

A CSOP Plan is one that satisfies the vesting period requirement as prescribed by the Singapore Exchange (SGX) for companies listed on the SGX, regardless whether the company is listed on the SGX or not.

To qualify for the scheme, the company must offer CSOPs to at least 50 percent of staff in the company.

An employee receiving CSOPs on shares of an overseas holding company will also be eligible for the tax exemption.

CSOPs can be granted to any employee of the company, including part-time employees and executive and non-executive directors.

Further details will be released by IRAS before 1 April 2001.

Table of Income Tax Rates

*The net rebates shown in the table above are rebates for monthly rental or S&C charges minus the separate monthly dollar rebates that are listed in the second column.