THE optimists will see opportunities around corners while the pessimists will expect nothing but the worst from a bleak landscape.
With COVID-19 outsmarting the brains and bucks of bio-tech with new variants — B.1.1.7 from the UK, B.1.351 from South Africa, P.1 from Brazil — we have to be prepared for challenging times in 2021.
As we continue to mask up, wash our hands, keep a safe distance from others and look at staycations while working from home, the metal ox year looks like an extension of life from 2020.
There’s a vaccine, no doubt, but we are still unsure about what path COVID-19 will take, or how effective the medication will be.
Hope hinges on a lot of variables and moving parts.
And, similarly, the effectiveness of tomorrow’s Singapore Budget 2021 will depend on many factors that are out of our control.
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As long as countries are fighting their own battles with COVID-19, the opportunities for regional interaction and business will be limited.
After four rounds of budgets in 2020, with S$92.9 billion made available to various industries and individuals requiring assistance during the pandemic, what will this coming budget address?
With an economy that has contracted and many industries uncertain about recovery and job support schemes set to run out at the end of March, there are immediate pressing needs to be addressed.
But, as well, there is the need to look to the future and anticipate where Singapore will fit into a new world that will be shaped and reshaped by the pandemic.
This week’s WED WEB CHAT discusses how Budget 2021 has reacted to the times.
Panellists for the session are: Ku Swee Yong, CEO of International Property Advisor, whose latest book, The Future Of Real Estate, is his sixth on the industry; KC Lau, chartered accountant and author of Tax Planning — Singapore, which is in its 6th edition; fresh graduate Carissa Sim who has been trying hard to get a fulltime job; and investor and entrepreneur P. Jeyaratnam.
Jeyaratnam’s thoughts on Budget 2021 sets the tone for the discussion: “A mixed bag of conflicting options with limited vision or foresight in unprecedented times, where time-tested solutions are incapacitated. Caught in between bold novel solutions and the need to be prudent and cautious at the same time. A challenging dilemma for all of us.”
Join us with your views on Budget 2021.
Register for this webinar on 17 Feb 2021 from 12:45-1:30pm using this link: https://zurl.co/TNP7
Limited to 100 seats.
You can watch previous WED WEB CHAT discussions on www.storm-asia.com.
Nice to to see the special needs people are rightly cared for. It would be nice to target the people at the lower end who need more support then than an average person. The government knows who they are and many are in the 70s and unable to find jobs, unless they are expected to go around collecting card boards, newspapers etc.