Awwal 15, 1432 H/Feb 18, 2011, SPA -- The Singapore government Friday unveiled a multi-billion-dollar benefits package to help offset the rising costs of food and commodities, according to dpa. The package, worth 6.6 billion Singapore dollars (5.2 billion US dollars), includes tax rebates and cuts for households as well as long-term investments in social services such as health care. "Inflation is a key concern for everyone this year," Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam told Singapore's parliament in his budget speech for the upcoming financial year. Tharman warned further spikes in commodity prices could hold back economic growth in Asia if governments are forced to tighten domestic policies to control inflation. "As a country that imports almost all we consume, we will always be vulnerable to inflation abroad," said the minister. The government earlier said it expected inflation to reach 3 to 4 per cent this year, with a peak of up to 6 per cent in the coming months and a more moderate rate in the latter half of 2011. Tharman said Singapore would seek to reduce inflationary pressures through the Singapore dollar exchange rate policy of its central bank, but the most fundamental approach was to raise incomes. "We aim to raise incomes by 30 per cent over this decade," he said. Presenting the last budget before general elections due by February next year, Tharman said all adult Singaporeans would receive a growth dividend of up to 800 Singapore dollars, after the city-state's economy grew a record 14.5 per cent in 2010. Given the strong recovery of Singapore's economy following the global recession, the budget for the financial year 2010 that ends March 31 was expected "to be close to a balanced position" with a small deficit of 300 million Singapore dollars, or 0.1 per cent of gross domestic product, he said.
