Public holidays in Singapore, 2020

How Singapore public holidays work in 2020

Singapore's Holidays Act in the First Schedule lists eleven public holidays, chosen to balance the city-state's Chinese, Malay and Indian communities. New Year's Day, Labour Day and National Day on 9 August are civic; Chinese New Year (two days), Hari Raya Puasa, Hari Raya Haji, Vesak Day, Deepavali, Good Friday and Christmas Day are religious. The lunar and Islamic-calendar dates are gazetted each year by the Ministry of Manpower. Singapore is among the few countries that gives substitute Monday off when a holiday falls on a Sunday under section 4 of the Holidays Act. There is no separate banking holiday list; the Monetary Authority of Singapore observes the same eleven days.

Working days in Singapore

The Employment Act sets a 44-hour standard working week with at least one rest day per week, typically Sunday. The standard private-sector week is Monday to Friday with banks operating Monday to Friday. The Interpretation Act section 50 rolls statutory deadlines from a Sunday or public holiday to the next day that is not a Sunday or public holiday; Saturday is treated as a working day for substantive deadlines. Settlement of Singapore dollar transactions runs on the MAS Electronic Payment System (MEPS+), which closes on the eleven gazetted holidays. Singapore observes no separate banking calendar.

For people planning cross-border meetings, the practical move is to overlay Singapore's calendar with the calendars of the other countries on your team. A week that looks completely clear from your end might be a national holiday on theirs. The compare tool above pairs two country calendars and highlights the overlapping closures, so you can spot the weeks where almost no one is at their desk before you put a launch on the board.