Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance & National Development

2 March 2023
Why It Matters: Minister Indranee Rajah shares how Singapore is reimagining its future
Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office and Second Minister for National Development & Finance helps us join the dots behind Singapore’s urban planning and how that fits into the bigger picture of the city’s longer-term development goals.
1:36 - We saw robust discussion in Parliament at the National Development Ministry’s Committee of Supply debate. What stood out for you?
2:11 - One particular worry that came through from several MPs that they highlighted - is the market impact of higher housing grants on the price of resale flats, especially in light of the buoyant resale market and recent concerns over affordability of resale flats. How much can property cooling measures help in curtailing prices?
3:40 - Minister, this time round, we saw a slew of housing initiatives targeted at young families. Can you give us a sense of the feedback you’ve gotten from young parents - how have their needs evolved and to what extent do the initiatives address their key concerns?
5:17 - Moving on to another area of interest is the seniors. And this is an area I'm finding quite interesting because it's around what's called the Community Care apartments. This is a joint offering by MND, MOH and HDB, that expands the housing options for seniors, so it involves integrating the senior-friendly housing with care services. So there's a pilot project and we can see it happening in Bedok later this year, a third one, and later on in the pipeline of other locations as well. So what factors will the MND be taking into account when deciding the location or some of these pilots?
7:16 - Let's talk about the bigger plan in terms of land use. The Long-Term Plan Review, which sets out our goals in the next 50 years, concluded last year, and we’re now heading into the next bound of planning - the Master Plan Review, which will cover detailed land use and plans to help us get there. You’ve said that this will center on liveability. How exactly would you define that keeping in mind evolving needs? And could you let us in on examples of what some of these plans might entail?
9:52 - Minister, you alluded to this a bit earlier, how we are making a push towards becoming greener in some sense, because you've detailed some plans to raise targets in lines of efforts to restore nature into our urban landscape, in particular, to restore 80 hectares of forests, coastal and marine habitats by 2030. Can you give us a sense, how do you approach this challenge because we've got a backdrop in Singapore that is increasingly becoming more built-up but at the same time we're trying to find space for all this greenery.

[Contact Us]
Presenters: Lynlee Foo, Ryan Huang
Producer: Yeo Kai Ting (ykaiting@sph.com.sg)

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Listen to her previous podcasts:

11 November 2021
Understanding the Prime Location Public Housing Model
As announced by our National Development Minister Desmond Lee a few weeks ago, future HDB flats in certain locations will be subjected to tighter buying and selling conditions under a new prime location public housing (PLH) model. Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office & Second Minister for Finance and National Development shares the rationale behind introducing this new PLH model and how these prime HDB flats will be made affordable when they are first launched during Build-To-Order sales exercises.

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19 February 2021
Singapore Budget Conversations 2021
The Breakfast Huddle's Elliott Danker and Ryan Huang speak to Minister Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office and Second Minister for Finance & National Development, Barnabas Gan, Economist, UOB and Ajay Kumar Sanganeria, Head of Tax, KPMG in Singapore about various announcements in Budget 2021 and what it means for businesses, the economy and Singaporeans.

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Click here for more Budget 2021 updates.

11 June 2020
Fortitude Budget: Staying Ahead in the New Normal
Unity, Resilience and Solidarity and now we have Fortitude. The Fortitude Budget, is the fourth tranche of relief measures to fight the COVID-19 outbreak in Singapore, and this budget will cost the Government S$33 billion. Minister in the Prime Minister's Office & Second Minister for Finance and Education, Ms Indranee Rajah gives us an analysis on the latest Fortitude Budget and how the nation can transform to seize new opportunities.

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8 April 2020
Resilience, Support and Strength Amidst COVID-19
In the last two budgets, the government has taken steps to dip into our reserves to help the nation cope with this situation. Being resilient is probably the key for our nation to get through this. And with support from the government, it will help us be resilient. Minister in the Prime Minister's Office & Second Minister for Finance and Education, Ms Indranee Rajah gives us an analysis on the latest Solidarity Budget and Singapore's long term plans, post COVID-19.

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6 February 2020

Budget 2020 Preview
Amid the challenging economic outlook and the effects of the novel coronavirus outbreak, Singaporeans will be looking forward to Budget 2020 for some relief. More than half of Singapore businesses are also hoping for tax relief as they prepare for a tough year ahead. Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office & Second Minister for Finance & Education goes in depth with what we should expect in Budget 2020.

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1 Feb 2019
Budget 2019 Preview With Ms Indranee Rajah
We’re just about 2 weeks away when we’ll hear Singapore Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat deliver the Budget 2019 statement in Parliament on February 18th. Ms Indranee Rajah, Minister in the Prime Minister's Office, and Second Minister for Finance and Education shares a sneak preview on what we can expect from Budget 2019.

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3 Oct 2018
Indranee Rajah, Minister, PMO & 2nd Minister For Finance And Education
In The Hot Seat, Indranee Rajah, Minister at PMO & Second Minister for Finance and Education explains more about the Variable Capital Companies Bill passed by Parliament, how it will change Singapore's fund management industry, and create new jobs.

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7 Feb 2018
Senior Minister of State for Law & Finance, Ms Indranee Rajah
Just in time for Budget 2018 that will be released on 19 Feb, we had Senior Minister of State for Law & Finance - Ms Indranee Rajah to go in depth with what we should expect in this year's budget.
With digital disruption, how will it threaten job opportunities in Singapore? Especially for PMETs? What kind of measures will there be to prepare Singaporeans for the digital economy? What are some of the challenges Singapore will face in the coming years?
We also discussed the potential GST hike and the kinds of support given to the needy and will e-commerce tax be affected in this year's budget? To keep things fun, we ask her - with $10 left, what would she do with her money? And what was her last google search?

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