Disclaimer : This article has no political agenda whatsoever, the author is not affiliated with any political parties and is not an accountant.
The portfolios of GIC, MAS and Temasek Holdings, are generally regarded as the total National Reserve of Singapore, and this is their Portfolio size based on my findings on them.
...
Note that these may or may not be all of the reserves. There are probably funds and investments through other channels, plus I'm not accountant so feel free to follow the links yourself if in any doubt and correct me on this page.
Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS)
Net Assets of S$ 35.3 Billion for Annual Report 2010
http://www.mas.gov.sg/abou
Temasek Holdings
On their website's first page, portfolio of S$ 186 Billion, as on 05 May 2011
http://www.temasek.com.sg/
Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC)
From the Reuters article - "GIC says on its website that it manages "well over" $100 billion but most analysts estimate the fund's assets are between $200 billion and $300 billion."
Source : Reuters (dtd 27 Sep 2010) FACTBOX-Singapore GIC's portfolio at a glance
http://www.reuters.com/art
Let's take an average and put it at $250 Billion, and be conservative to assume that figure is in Singapore Dollars. Hence, that would be estimated say, S$250 Billion.
TOTAL
MAS - S$ 35.3 Billion
Temasek - S$ 186 Billion
GIC - S$ 250 Billion
Total : S$ 471 Billion
So, S$471 Billion? so what?
However, Singapore has a very small population. 5.1 Million, based on article on 04 May 2011 by Reuters on PM Lee's apology.
http://in.reuters.com/arti
National Wealth Per Capita
(estimated) National Wealth / Population
S$ 471 Billion / 5.1 Million
S$ 471,000 Million / 5.1 Million
S$ 92,000 Per Capita
For those new to the term, Per Capita means if the Wealth of Singapore were to be equally distributed to the its population (Singaporeans, PR, Foreigners, everyone), each person would get...
S$ 92,000 per Person
If we assume each household in Singapore is about 4 persons, each family would get...
S$ 368,000 per Household !!
Note that if we exclude the 36% Foreigners as from the same Reuters article that PM Lee apologised about, it would be about
S$142,730 per Person
S$550,000++ per Household!
( space to let that sink in )
( MORE space to let that sink in )
If you think about it, almost certainly no country in the world has this kind of National Wealth per Capita.
That is why Singapore government is able to provide
- very, very, very affordable education for 10-12 years of each child's life
- quality housing for large majority of Citizens and PRs, something that very few governments can do
- Grow & Share, GST Offset payout, etc packages likely amounting to at least several 100 millions SGD
- good housing downpayment / loan schemes in conjunction with CPF
- extremely extensive and efficient public transport coverage
- advanced equipment and modern military for Singapore Army
And that is why Singapore government is likely able to afford
- improved CPF / pension schemes for elderly
- Medisave that does not require insurance to pay out
- lower land / HDB prices
- less Road Tax / ERP / COE for cars
- housing loan that can be opt-in / opt-out
- to keep public transport fees / costs down
- ratio of Singaporeans to Foreigners to be employed by all companies
Nonetheless, this feat has (probably) NEVER been done by any modern country with a democratic political system, and certainly not one with no natural resources, no land, etc, nothing but an Extraordinary Government, backed by Diligent Hardworking People.
If there has been any division between the wealth of the government (ie. Per Capita Wealth of Singapore Govt / Median Income of Civil Servants & Politicians) and the people (ie. Per Capita Wealth / Median Income of Singaporeans), perhaps now its good time for dialogue to
- Govt to share tips / loosen policies for Citizens to catch up ( if at all necessary )
- while keeping the Govt vision in alignment with interests of Citizens.
- ensuring continued stream of foreign investment which is the life blood of Singapore
This is Our Time.
If you found this article interesting, informative, or thought-provoking , please click Attend / Like / Share etc. Thank You.
Disclaimer (Full) : This article has no political agenda whatsoever.
It is written by a Singaporean who, due to recent political events, started to poke around more and got very surprised! It is only a presentation of a few facts that can be found anywhere by anyone.
The author is not a qualified accountant in any sense of the word and readers may want to look at the Links themselves.
The author is not affiliated with any political parties.
Yes its the 2nd Disclaimer, but Kiasu / Kiasee what... :)
---
There has been a lot of talk in the last few days about CPF interest rates being low at 2.5%.
First of all. I'd like to clarify that it's not 2.5% for all of it, I believe it's 4% for the first 60k.
Second of all, just because the interest rate happens to be lower than inflation, does that mean that we don't save?
Think about it. When you put your money in the bank, you get 0.125% interest. You still save the money.
The government doesn't owe it to you to make sure the money you save keeps up with inflation. The government owes it to you to make sure you have enough money when you retire. CPF is a form of forced savings. Let's be honest with ourselves. How many more Singaporeans would be worse off without enforced savings?
A squirrel saves his acorns in the oak even though he knows some will be spoilt or eaten by other pests because the alternative is starvation.
People make a big issue about the losses of GIC. Can we pause for a moment to think how much GIC has made for us? How we would be worse off if we had no GIC/Temasek Holdings? Let's not just complain. Let's try to think about the flip side. Have we benefitted from these policies like CPF and GIC/Temasek. Yes we have. As a country, we would be worse off without them.
No comments:
Post a Comment