What is the impact of the Singapore government support during COVID-19 to help businesses get past this tough period?

75% wage support for two months.

thats good support

of course more would be appreciated but a healthy business should be like an individual- with 6 months of expenses in the bank to go through bad times.

As a business owner ourselves as a SME (Small Medium Enterprise), I would say that the govenrment support especially during this period (April 2020) will be really impactful.

If you think about it, in the US, I saw reports of mass unemployment because the grants from the government is either not enough, or the disbursement is too slow. (and there are also many undocumented workers in certain FnB industries).

If you think about it. 75% of your wages this month (up to $4,600 income) is paid by the government.

EG. If your salary is $4,600, your employer only needs to pay $1,150 for your income in April.

That in itself is a huge support to help your employer retain you, at least for this month as the payouts will come into their bank accounts to ensure running free cashflow.

Espeically for industries which are more affected. (eg Aviation, Tourism which the 75% support will continue to run for a few months to ensure that we do not face huge job unemployment in the near term with businesses closing down) And F&B for 50% support.

It could go up to Millions of dollars for MNCs.

My Fianceé works in a global MNC with its APAC HQ in Singapore, in the financial services sector. She works in the accounting department and was also tasked to study the impact of this income support grants. (EJSS)

And on a MNC basis, the figures go up to millions of dollars in support simply because they employ many Singapore Citizens and PRs alike.

So it is indeed a huge determining factor especially to the HR teams to ensure that these organisations do not let their people go (at least in the short term where the economic shock is still in progress).

But in the mid to longer term, I would say beyond 6 months, it's anyone's guess as the economy may look very different in the post-vaccine era. Let's see...​​​