Parliament to debate Budget Statement from March 5

SINGAPORE: Parliament will begin its annual two—week—long debate on the Budget Statement, which was delivered by Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on February 25.

The House, which will sit from 12pm on Tuesday, will debate the financial policy of the government for the financial year April 1, 2013 to March 31, 2014.

Members of Parliament (MPs) will first debate the main budget speech presented by Mr Tharman, and then scrutinise the spending plans of the ministries.

Before the budget debate, the House will hear three questions revolving around population concerns tabled for oral reply.

MP Yeo Guat Kwang has questions on the Singaporean core of the workforce. He wants to know how the government will ensure that the Singaporean core will not be eroded in an economic downturn or during significant downsizing of companies, especially for job areas where there are no dependency ratio ceilings for foreign PMETs.

MP Zainal Sapari wants to know the reasons for rejections of applications for Long—Term Visit Pass Plus by foreign spouses of Singaporeans who have children of Singapore citizenship.

Nominated MP R Dhinakaran wants to know how many foreign spouses of Singapore citizens on Long Term Visit Passes have stayed in Singapore as of December 31, 2012.

—CNA/ac