Adopting ICT Solutions to Increase Productivity 22 Scaling-up Proven ICT Solutions 22 Piloting of Emerging Solutions 22 Enabling High-Speed Connectivity for Businesses 23 Catalysing Investment in Growth Enterprises 23 Co-Investment Programme Phase II 23 Enhancement of the Micro-Loan Programme 24 Seizing Growth Opportunities Overseas 25 Financing for Internationalisation 25 Building Capabilities for Internationalisation 25 The Construction Sector 26 Upstream Measures to Tackle Construction Productivity 26 Targeted Foreign Worker Policies for Construction 27 Monitor Foreign Workforce Growth in Other Sectors 28 D. A Fair and Equitable Society 29 Promote Social Mobility 31 Pre-school Education 31 Bursaries at our Institutes of Higher Learning (IHLs) 31 Enhance Healthcare Affordability 32 MediShield Life Review 32 Specialist Outpatient Clinics Subsidies 33 CPF Medisave Contribution Rate 34 Honouring our Pioneer 35 Criteria for the Pioneer Generation 35
Enhancement of Parent Relief I will also enhance income tax reliefs to give greater encouragement and recognition to individuals supporting their parents and grandparents. I will increase parent relief and handicapped parent relief by up to $3,000, with those individuals who are staying with their elderly dependants enjoying a higher relief quantum. (See Table 5.) Table 5: Parent Relief and Handicapped Parent Relief Type of Relief Current Relief Quantum Relief Quantum With Effect From YA2015 Parent Relief (Staying with dependant) $7,000 $9,000 Parent Relief (Not staying with dependant) $4,500 $5,500 Handicapped Parent Relief (Staying with dependant) $11,000 $14,000 Handicapped Parent Relief (Not staying with dependant) $8,000 $10,000 This measure will benefit about 170,000 individuals, supporting 208,000 dependants. It will cost about $27 million a year. Currently, the relief for a parent can only be claimed by one child. Following a public consultation last year, I will allow the sharing of parent relief in recognition that care for parents is a shared responsibility among family members. (Refer to Annex A-5.) Greater Support for Persons with Disabilities Our next set of initiatives for Budget 2014 concerns support for persons with disabilities. We have over the last decade significantly expanded support for them, to help at each stage of their lives.
The $8 billion Pioneer Generation Fund is not intended to cover the underlying healthcare subsidies that the Pioneer Generation receives together with all Singaporeans. These will continue to be from future annual budgets. For example, the enhanced SOC subsidies in this year’s Budget are part of our future budgetary spending and we have planned for them on that basis. After including the Pioneer Generation Fund and various measures in this year’s Budget, and factoring in the Net Investment Returns Contribution, the Overall Budget Balance is a deficit of $1.2 billion, or about 0.3% of GDP. This is close to a balanced budget, and will not result in a draw on past reserves as we have sufficient surpluses from the last few years.
Conclusion Madam Speaker, let me conclude very briefly. This Budget builds on the changes that we have been making in recent years as Singapore enters a new phase. We are transforming our economy to sustain improvement in incomes; we are opening up new opportunities for the young; and we are giving more assurance to our seniors. We can never be certain of the future. But the Pioneer Generation has given us something beyond the material. As the Prime Minister put it at the Pioneer Generation Tribute Event on 9 February, it is the pioneering spirit – to be self-reliant, and to be united in purpose. One of the people I met again at the Tribute Event was Madam Fong Yuet Kwai. She is now retired. She had been an educator for over four decades at Nan Hua Primary, including 21 years as principal, working tirelessly during the switchover from to English-stream and strengthening the school year by year. Madam Fong was diagnosed with cancer in 1997. She took a break, but came back after six months to re-immerse herself in school life. I was at Education a decade ago when she finally retired, and so I met her to thank her for her contributions to education. Her reply was simple: “It was my duty”. The best we can do for the Pioneer Generation is to live according to their values as we seek to build a better future for Singapore. Madam Speaker, I beg to move.