She noted that over the past five years, the Committee of Supply (COS) – where parliament examines the plans and budget of each ministry – has “worked extra hard”.
“This term, we had an average of over 600 cuts filed for each COS, with an average of seven hours and 45 minutes of debates per sitting day across each Budget and COS season.
This is the highest volume of cuts – or short speeches – and the longest duration compared to any previous term, said Ms Indranee.
As Singapore marks its 60th year of independence this year, Ms Indranee said the country “can take quiet pride in how far (it has) come through the efforts of past and present generations of Singaporeans”.
She noted how Singapore was recently named the world’s most innovative country in a biennial ranking of 74 countries and how the country’s passport is “consistently ranked among the most powerful”.
Singapore’s Gini coefficient, after accounting for government taxes and transfers, is also “at its lowest in two decades”, while the country continues to “retain top spots globally in home ownership, PISA scores, healthy life expectancies and other important metrics”.
“When we first set out on our journey as a nation in 1965, no one would have thought we would achieve such outcomes,” said Ms Indranee, who is also Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance and National Development.
“We did not get to this point by accident or luck, but through careful long-term planning, building on the trust and cooperation between Singaporeans and the government,” she added.
“These are also the result of Budgets past and present, which have resourced and funded the policies that have enabled us to achieve these outcomes.”