Mr Speaker, Sir, may I thank all Members for their views and suggestions.

I am grateful that nearly all the Members who spoke supported the Budget. Of course, many have also raised specific issues, which I will leave to the respective Ministers to deal with in the Committee of Supply.

In this speech, I will focus on the main thrust of the Budget, namely, how we can create more opportunities for Singaporeans through economic growth and restructuring while building a sense of community that will bind us together as a nation.

Budget 2005 should not be viewed in isolation. It is part of the Government’s ongoing efforts to restructure our economy - to make it more dynamic, diversified and entrepreneurial. In recent years, we have made major tax changes.

For companies, we have reduced the corporate tax rates, exempted from tax most types of foreign-sourced income, and introduced group relief to make our tax regime more competitive and business-friendly.

For individuals, we have lowered personal income taxes and, in this Budget, we will reach the 20% target which was set by the Economic Review Committee two years ago. We have also exempted from tax all foreign-sourced income and domestic investment income.

In economic policy, we have made strategic shifts. We have injected greater competition into the economy to foster efficiency and innovation, for instance, in telecommunications, power generation and financial services. We have re-focused the CPF system to better meet the retirement needs of Singaporeans while enhancing the competitiveness of our businesses. And we have worked with unions and management to make our labour market and wage system more flexible, so that we can respond more nimbly to changing economic conditions.

This Budget builds on these changes and supports our strategies to enhance our competitiveness, diversify our economic base, and restructure our economy into one that is open to talent, enterprise and ideas. Only then can we sustain growth and keep abreast of other countries in the region and meet the aspirations of Singaporeans.

But even as we press on with restructuring and expanding our economic opportunities, we recognise that not all Singaporeans can keep up with the changes which are happening fast, and we must help those who cannot keep up to get back on their feet. Hence, this Budget also focuses on helping Singaporeans who need help. The measures seek to cover all the important groups affected - people concerned about healthcare, older people, lower income groups. But the measures are not meant to meet all their needs. That is not possible, nor even desirable. Not possible because no government has enough money to do that, and not desirable because that would undermine our spirit of self-reliance and personal responsibility. Our aim is to help people in a way that will enable them to help themselves.

This Budget is all about creating Opportunity with Community - growing the economy while ensuring that no one is left behind. And it aims to do this while maintaining fiscal discipline and budget balance.