One of the key themes of this year's Budget 2020 announcement by Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat is the Covid-19 coronavirus outbreak in Singapore. It came at an unfortunate time, as an economic downturn was long forecasted before the medical emergency hit us.

According to Mr Heng, Singapore's economic growth was 0.7 per cent in 2019, which is a 10-year low. In his words, it is the "weakest it's been since the 2008 financial crisis". As such, the Ministry of Trade and Industry has downgraded the GDP forecast to -0.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent.