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GOVT ENJOYED SURPLUS OF $17 BILLION BETWEEN MAY AND OCTOBER THIS YEAR
Post date:
26 Dec 2014 - 1:03pm
The Singapore government has accumulated at least a massive $17 billion in surplus this year.
According to the Department of Statistics’ Monthly Digest of Statistics November 2014, the cash surplus from May to October 2014 was about $16.9 billion.
Not only that, in 2011 and 2012, Singapore also accumulated $27.4 billion and $25.3 billion in surplus respectively.
It is thus likely that this year, the Singapore government is on track to accumulate a similar amount of surplus, or even more than $30 billion.
Over the last few years, the Singapore government has accumulated tens of billions of surplus almost every year.
Just by spending even half of these surpluses each year would enable all Singaporeans to have free healthcare and free education, and even reduce housing prices to truly more affordable levels.
However, the government has instead preferred to accumulate the surplus.
Singaporeans thus have to pay the most out-of-pocket per capita in the world for healthcare, the most expensive university tuition fees in the world and possibly the most expensive childcare fees in the world.
Singaporeans also have to pay for the most expensive public housing in the world.
Meanwhile, the Singapore government spends the least on healthcare and education among the developed countries, as a percentage of GDP.
This is because the government would rather keep the money in surpluses instead of return it back to the people.
The government would also spend $400 million in a year to give to foreign students to study for free in Singapore.
Where the government keeps tens of billions every year in surplus for itself, it does not quite make sense that Singaporeans have to pay the most expensive prices out of their already low wages and one of the lowest among the developed countries.
In fact, the high surpluses also include land sales which the government has gotten cheaply from Singaporeans in the 1960s and 1970s but are today selling them at very high prices to earn profit for themselves.
When Singaporeans purchase their flats, 60 percent of the flat price actually goes into land costs, which means that the government is also profitting from Singaporeans' purchase of the housing that it built.
The huge surplus is of so much concern that even the International Monetary Fund thought it urgent enough to ask the Singapore government to increase "social and infrastructure spending in support of reforms to boost productivity, enhance health care and retirement benefits for the elderly and low-income households, and promote inclusiveness more generally" to "narrow the current account surplus over time".
Post date:
26 Dec 2014 - 1:03pm
The Singapore government has accumulated at least a massive $17 billion in surplus this year.
According to the Department of Statistics’ Monthly Digest of Statistics November 2014, the cash surplus from May to October 2014 was about $16.9 billion.
Not only that, in 2011 and 2012, Singapore also accumulated $27.4 billion and $25.3 billion in surplus respectively.
It is thus likely that this year, the Singapore government is on track to accumulate a similar amount of surplus, or even more than $30 billion.
Over the last few years, the Singapore government has accumulated tens of billions of surplus almost every year.
Just by spending even half of these surpluses each year would enable all Singaporeans to have free healthcare and free education, and even reduce housing prices to truly more affordable levels.
However, the government has instead preferred to accumulate the surplus.
Singaporeans thus have to pay the most out-of-pocket per capita in the world for healthcare, the most expensive university tuition fees in the world and possibly the most expensive childcare fees in the world.
Singaporeans also have to pay for the most expensive public housing in the world.
Meanwhile, the Singapore government spends the least on healthcare and education among the developed countries, as a percentage of GDP.
This is because the government would rather keep the money in surpluses instead of return it back to the people.
The government would also spend $400 million in a year to give to foreign students to study for free in Singapore.
Where the government keeps tens of billions every year in surplus for itself, it does not quite make sense that Singaporeans have to pay the most expensive prices out of their already low wages and one of the lowest among the developed countries.
In fact, the high surpluses also include land sales which the government has gotten cheaply from Singaporeans in the 1960s and 1970s but are today selling them at very high prices to earn profit for themselves.
When Singaporeans purchase their flats, 60 percent of the flat price actually goes into land costs, which means that the government is also profitting from Singaporeans' purchase of the housing that it built.
The huge surplus is of so much concern that even the International Monetary Fund thought it urgent enough to ask the Singapore government to increase "social and infrastructure spending in support of reforms to boost productivity, enhance health care and retirement benefits for the elderly and low-income households, and promote inclusiveness more generally" to "narrow the current account surplus over time".
