Managing crises and public financial management in Singapore

Chang Yee Kwan and Hui Lee

Chapter 24 in Research Handbook on City and Municipal Finance, 2023, pp 453-468 from Edward Elgar Publishing

Abstract: Crises necessitate the mobilization of additional resources outside of the regular budgeting cycle, often, with a corresponding increase in fiscal deficits and public debt. Singapore is an outlier in this respect. This chapter discusses Singapore’s public financial management practices and how several features serve to enable Singapore to mobilize fiscal resources in response to crises without incurring substantial long-term fiscal deficits and/or government debt. Two stand out in particular: (i) fiscal rules that give medium-term flexibility in budgetary management and utilization but prohibit discretionary use of past accumulated fiscal surpluses or borrowing for current expenditures; and (ii) discerning identification and use of broad-based taxes and nonconventional sources of revenue that exhibit less volatility. These are complemented by an efficient tax administration and a political economy environment with minimal inter- and intra-agency competition for fiscal resources. Singapore’s budgetary responses to the COVID-19 pandemic provide an illustration of these features.

Keywords: Economics and Finance; Politics and Public Policy Urban and Regional Studies (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2023
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