• The Mandarin term “坚毅向前预算案” is a paraphrase of the English term “Fortitude Budget”.
• Deputy Prime Minister and then Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat announced this S$33 billion budget on 26 May 2020.
• The Fortitude Budget aimed to help employees remain employed, support businesses to deal with costs, cash flow and credit issues, drive business transformation, and build societal resilience.
• In this budget, the Government enhanced existing assistance, allowing businesses that could not operate as usual to continue receiving 75% of wage subsidies until the resumption of work. The Jobs Support Scheme was also extended by one month for employers who hired local employees. In addition, all businesses received a one-month wage subsidy for their employees (for August 2020 and with a cap).
• A S$2 billion SGUnited Jobs and Skills Package was included in this budget, mainly dedicated to creating 100,000 employment, internship or skills training opportunities to address the livelihood challenges faced by Singaporeans.
• The Government also allocated S$500 million to assist enterprises in digital transformation and encourage hawkers and businesses to adopt electronic payment modes.
• The assistance package also included S$2 billion in cash grants for small and medium-sized enterprises, to provide foreign worker levy waivers and rebates, and to assume a share of the additional costs in construction projects.

To help businesses overcome the challenges of this difficult period and retain their employees, the Fortitude Budget introduced further assistance packages. (Lianhe Zaobao, 26/6/2020)