Singapore unveils $13.6 billion stimulus package

SINGAPORE: Singapore's government said it plans to spend $20.5 billion Singapore dollars ($13.6 billion) this year, causing a budget deficit blowout, in a bid to spur domestic demand and ease the impact of a severe recession.

The government will target job preservation, bank lending, and infrastructure projects while widening this year's fiscal deficit to 6 percent of gross domestic product, the city-state's largest deficit ``to date,'' Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said Thursday in a televised speech.

Singapore slashed its 2009 growth forecast Wednesday for a second time this month, saying the economy could shrink as much as 5 percent as global demand for the country's exports collapses.