Singapore is set to deliver a strong budget this week to offset the damage to the economy from the coronavirus, with analysts predicting the biggest deficit in almost two decades.

The fiscal gap may widen to 1.5 percent of gross domestic product in the year beginning April 1, the highest since the 1.7 percent shortfall recorded in the 2001 financial year, according to the median estimate in a Bloomberg survey of economists. This year's deficit will probably come in at 0.3 percent, compared to the government's earlier projection of 0.7 percent.

Singapore was already planning support for businesses hit by the trade war when the coronavirus broke out early this year. The city-state, which has more than 60 cases of virus infections, is losing as many as 20,000 tourists a day amid travel curbs. The economic impact is already more severe than during the 2003 SARS pandemic, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong was cited as saying Friday.