To accelerate digital transformation and boost e-payment adoption, the Singapore Government is allocating more than S$500 million ($352 million) in funding to businesses.
«Businesses that are not digitally connected have been hit hard during the circuit breaker… those that are willing to transform will not be left behind,» said Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat in Parliament on Tuesday.
The use of digital payments have «risen sharply,» with more than 50,000 businesses adopting Paynow Corporate since April, Heng said, as he launched the government's fourth support package, totaling S$33 billion, to help businesses and citizens tide through Covid-19.
To support the use of e-payments in hawker centers, the government is offering up to S$1,500 in bonuses for stallholders to adopt e-payments. It is also offering a «Digital Resilience Bonus» of up to S$5,000 to companies that adopt Paynow Corporate and e-invoicing, as well as business process or e-commerce solutions. An additional S$5,000 is available to those that adopt advanced solutions, according to details released by the Ministry of Finance.
Further Relief
Among other measures, the «Fortitude Budget» promises commercial SME tenants further rental relief, a two-month extension of the foreign worker levy and an extension of the Jobs Support Scheme by another month for firms that cannot open on June 2, the end of the «circuit breaker» that has been ongoing since April 4.
Since March, government support has totaled S$92 billion, or about 20 percent of GDP.
Outlook Downgraded
Earlier on Tuesday, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) revised the city-state's 2020 growth forecast to -4 to -7 percent, down from its previous forecast of -1 to -4 percent, saying that disruptions to economic activity in major economies around the world as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic «have been more severe than expected.»
