The Singaporean government is taking a collective pay cut out of coronavirus solidarity
Summary
He said that public servants at the front line of the fight against Covid-19 would also receive a special bonus of up to a month’s salary, including health care workers and some officers at agencies that have been directly involved with the epidemic response. In order to “show that the governing team are… riding out the difficult times with the public,” chief executive Carrie Lam and all politically appointed officials would donate a month’s salary for charity, according to a statement. Outlining the budget last week, the government said it had earmarked S$5.6 billion to help businesses and families through the economic downturn, with extra spending expected to lead to the biggest deficit in more than a decade. Earlier this week, Singapore sovereign wealth fund Temasek also announced that it would freeze all salaries and promotion increases. Singapore has earned wide praise for its response to the Covid-19 outbreak, with stringent close contact tracing and strict quarantine polices playing a part in keeping the total case count relatively low.