President, Ministers & MPs to Take 1-Month Pay Cut Due to COVID-19 Outbreak

The COVID-19 situation is Singapore is showing no signs of reprieve.

In fact, as of 27 February, three new COVID-19 cases have been confirmed and one of them is a secondary school student from Raffles Institution.

This has prompted the school to close for one day in order to prevent community spread by cleaning and disinfecting the school premises.

The school is due to reopen as per usual on 2 March 2020.

There’s no denying that Singapore’s economy is being impacted:

President, Ministers & MPs to Take 1-Month Pay Cut Due to COVID-19 Outbreak

All ministers and other political office holders will have to take a one-month pay cut to show solidarity with Singaporeans in the face of the COVID-19 outbreak.

This was announced by Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat today at the end of the Budget debate.

He also mentioned that President Halimah Yacob has also volunteered to receive a one-month pay cut.

This also applies to all Members of Parliament (MP) who will have their allowances cut by one month, since they’re technically getting allowance instead of “pay”. On the other hand, some senior public service officers will take a half-month pay cut.

Mr Heng is confident that Singapore will be able to overcome the virus and emphasised the need to stand together as a nation.

“Singapore has been able to respond strongly and effectively to COVID-19 because there is strong trust between the people and the Government, and the sense that we are all in this together.”

He said, “Our citizens and institutions all play a part: Enterprises and senior managements standing with unions and our workers, landlords supporting tenants, neighbours looking out for one another, political leaders working hand in hand with the public service and the people, to do everything that will help us see this problem through together.”

Confirmed Cases in Singapore

In total, there are 96 confirmed cases in Singapore and out of the 96 cases, 66 have been discharged and have made a recovery, while 8 are in the intensive care unit (ICU).

The conditions of the remaining patients are stable or improving.

While this may seem like good news, the virus outbreak has undeniably impacted Singapore’s economy.

For instance, restaurants in Singapore appealed for lower rentals due to the anticipation of as much as 80% drop in revenue due to the outbreak.

Simply put, less tourists equals less money. And it looks like it isn’t just retailers and businesses that are being hit hard since now, even our ministers are too.

Do you know that spending more money in Singapore instead of buying stuff from Taobao is going to help the country’s economy? So maybe you can help buy getting all your stuff locally instead.

I’m heading to the local bubble tea shop now.