Standard and Poor’s Ratings Services (S&P) has issued a top AAA unsolicited rating on Singapore following the country’s 2015 budget announcement.

Singapore’s 2015 budget shows “the strength of the government’s institutional and governance effectiveness” even as its population ages at one of the fastest rate in Asia.

The 68.2 billion SGD budget focuses on dealing with long term challenges in addition to retrain workers and increase support for local households and capacity of transportation and health services. It will help maintain Singapore’s position both regionally and globally.

The Singaporean government forecast a projected budget deficit of 6.7 billion SGD in the 2015 fiscal year ending March 2016. S&P estimates that the general government account will remain in surplus over the 2014 and 2015 fiscal years.-VNA