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SINGAPORE: Parliament will begin debating the <\/span>Budget 2026 statement<\/span> on Tuesday (Feb 24).<\/span><\/p>\n Deliberations are expected to go on for at least two days before Prime Minister and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong delivers a round-up speech, clarifies queries from Members of Parliament and sums up the Budget.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n This will be followed by the Committee of Supply debates, which allow parliament to examine each ministry’s plans.<\/span><\/p>\n In his Budget 2026 statement on Feb 12, Mr Wong announced a number of measures to help both Singaporeans and businesses.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n These included <\/span>investing in frontier technologies<\/span> under Research, Innovation and Enterprise 2030,<\/span> providing Singaporeans taking up selected AI courses with six months of free access to premium AI tools, and distributing more payouts to eligible Singaporeans.<\/p>\n Aside from the Budget debate, MPs will also discuss Singapore’s space sector plans and the recent measles cases.<\/p>\n MP Victor Lye (PAP-Ang Mo Kio) filed a question asking what strategic role Singapore intends to play in the global space economy beyond domestic launch capability over the next decade and how the country will leverage its comparative advantages.<\/p>\n He also asked what specific space-related activities Singapore expects to develop as core growth areas and what the expected economic value-add and skilled jobs in the space sector are for Singaporeans.<\/p>\n Nominated Member of Parliament <\/span>Mark Lee asked how the government plans to build ecosystem-level awareness and capability pathways for small and medium enterprises <\/span>to participate in space and quantum sectors, given the high entry barriers and scale advantages typically associated with these industries.<\/p>\n NMP Neo Kok Beng asked about the government’s plans, if any, to leverage on the upcoming Artemis II mission and what the government’s budget is for such plans.<\/p>\n Earlier this month, Minister-in-charge of Energy and Science and Technology Tan See Leng announced that Singapore will set up a national space agency in April.<\/p>\n The National Space Agency of Singapore aims to provide decisive leadership for Singapore to seize opportunities in the space economy and the new possibilities posed by democratised access to outer space.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n