$Straits Times Index(STI.SI)$  $STI ETF(ES3.SI)$  Singapore’s budget address on Friday is expected to address the rising costs of living and employment, issues seen as a litmus test for its fourth-generation leaders to prove they can take the city state through an “uncertain era” of geopolitical instability, analysts said. This year’s budget will also have added political significance given an expected leadership transition to the so-called fourth-generation, analysts pointed out, with the blueprint set to give citizens a glimpse of how the new administration would execute policies according to a road map set out in a Forward Singapore vision it announced recently. “Budget 2024 will be a conscious effort to demonstrate that the 4G leadership is equal to the task of leading Singapore in an uncertain era,” said by a law professor from Singapore Management University (SMU). “With 18 months left to the current parliament’s term, Budget 2024 can be expected to demonstrate renewed urgency and resolve to tackle cost-of-living concerns and the medium- to long-term concerns of ensuring Singapore remains economically relevant,” he said. The budget speech will be Deputy Prime Minister Lawrence Wong’s third, and possibly last, before Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong hands over power and the country heads into its next general election. While speculation has swirled in recent weeks that the transition could occur soon after the budget debate, which will end in mid-March, and be according to Lee’s plan to hand over power by November this year, Tan said the ruling People’s Action Party (PAP) was unlikely to be “hasty” about the shift. “The ruling party needs more time to reduce the political sensitivity of some of the top-of-the-mind concerns such as cost of living, housing affordability and accessibility, and job security,” Quote. @TigerStars @TigerEvents @MillionaireTiger @Tiger_SG