![](https://i.imgur.com/CLvY2jA.png")
16-08-2023, 11:31 AM
Tang See Kit
16 Aug 2023 08:00AM
(Updated: 16 Aug 2023 10:42AM)
SINGAPORE: Singapore has enough reserves “for most circumstances”, but it would be the "biggest misconception" to think that will always be the case with the country's spending needs already outpacing revenue growth, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Mr Lee also said he is “anxious” about continuing to build the reserves for as long as possible. The country’s fourth-generation (4G) political leadership is aware of the growing spending needs, as well as the need for Singapore to provide for that “in a sustainable way”, he added.
......
“Before the global financial crisis, we didn’t think we will need anything. When (it) came, it turned out we needed S$4, S$5 billion. When the COVID-19 crisis came, in the end we needed S$40 plus billion. So you have no idea how much you will need.”
And COVID-19 is “far from the worst thing that can happen” to Singapore, he cautioned. Hence, the “more productive way” to look at the reserves would be to think of it as “rainy day money”.
“If it’s not raining, I don’t touch it. If it’s a sunny day and I can afford to, I put a little bit more into it,” he said.
......
“Because it’s one of those things – once it’s gone, it will never come back again.”
Singapore’s fast economic growth in the 1970s and in the early 1980s, alongside large fiscal surpluses and rising incomes, had allowed the “possibility of putting aside some of this prosperity for a future rainy day”.
Today, Singapore is “not as poor as we were before”, with higher incomes and living standards. But putting aside 2 to 3 per cent of its gross domestic product to build up a sovereign fund from scratch would be “very hard”, Mr Lee said.
“The economy will not be able to take it. But at that time, our economy could take it and our forefathers had that prudence and the foresight to do it and we are the beneficiaries,” he said.
......
“But it will not be the last call because our spending needs will continue to grow,” said Mr Lee. “We are going to be a superaged society by 2030 and we have to make sure that we provide for ourselves and in a sustainable way.”
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapor...on-3699726
16 Aug 2023 08:00AM
(Updated: 16 Aug 2023 10:42AM)
SINGAPORE: Singapore has enough reserves “for most circumstances”, but it would be the "biggest misconception" to think that will always be the case with the country's spending needs already outpacing revenue growth, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong.
Mr Lee also said he is “anxious” about continuing to build the reserves for as long as possible. The country’s fourth-generation (4G) political leadership is aware of the growing spending needs, as well as the need for Singapore to provide for that “in a sustainable way”, he added.
......
“Before the global financial crisis, we didn’t think we will need anything. When (it) came, it turned out we needed S$4, S$5 billion. When the COVID-19 crisis came, in the end we needed S$40 plus billion. So you have no idea how much you will need.”
And COVID-19 is “far from the worst thing that can happen” to Singapore, he cautioned. Hence, the “more productive way” to look at the reserves would be to think of it as “rainy day money”.
“If it’s not raining, I don’t touch it. If it’s a sunny day and I can afford to, I put a little bit more into it,” he said.
......
“Because it’s one of those things – once it’s gone, it will never come back again.”
Singapore’s fast economic growth in the 1970s and in the early 1980s, alongside large fiscal surpluses and rising incomes, had allowed the “possibility of putting aside some of this prosperity for a future rainy day”.
Today, Singapore is “not as poor as we were before”, with higher incomes and living standards. But putting aside 2 to 3 per cent of its gross domestic product to build up a sovereign fund from scratch would be “very hard”, Mr Lee said.
“The economy will not be able to take it. But at that time, our economy could take it and our forefathers had that prudence and the foresight to do it and we are the beneficiaries,” he said.
......
“But it will not be the last call because our spending needs will continue to grow,” said Mr Lee. “We are going to be a superaged society by 2030 and we have to make sure that we provide for ourselves and in a sustainable way.”
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/singapor...on-3699726
