President Nathan says that “the process of seeking and securing my in-principle approval took approximately 11 days from the time the matter was first broached.” Calling the process a “rigorous one”, he said his approval was given on 21 January, just one day before the Budget was presented to Parliament on 22 January.
This following is an excerpt from Channel newsAsia’s report:
Mr Nathan, who is the first Singapore elected president to use the second key to unlock past reserves accumulated by the Singapore government, emphasised that the Constitution does not prescribe the process for dealing with a request for using past reserves.
All it spells out is the need for the president to consult the Council of Presidential Advisers and to publish his view when he approves a draw on past reserves.
“It is not easy to ‘yes’ in so far as the withdrawal of the reserves. There must be compelling reasons why we have to resort to withdrawing from past reserves,” the president said.
Read the full report on Channel NewsAsia.
