Singapore's 2009 budget to spur growth

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Singapore's 2009 budget to spur growth
Singapore's 2009 budget will be expansionary to help country tide through the economic downturn as inflation worries take a backseat, Reuters reported, quoting a local newspaper.

Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said on Sunday that next year's budget will be used to support economic growth and job creation.

"With the economy rather than inflation being the key priority, the budget should be expansionary," Tharman was quoted as saying by the Straits Times.

Tharman was also quoted as saying that the economic downturn is unlikely to be short term and that the budget will be fine-tuned to provide relief over a few years.

Singapore's budget is presented to the parliament in February and the government's fiscal year starts April 1. Singapore's announcement of an expansionary budget comes as China approved a 4 trillion yuan ($586 billion) government spending package to boost domestic demand and help the world's fourth-largest economy ride out the global credit crisis.

Singapore's economy fell into a recession, shrinking an annualised, seasonally adjusted 6.3 percent in the July-September quarter, advance estimates showed last month.