Picture from Yahoo
Picture from Yahoo
Picture from Yahoo
By Andrew Loh
Even as Singapore’s Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister was dismissing a report which ranked Singapore as the most expensive city in the world, the prices of Certificates of Entitlement (COEs) for vehicles were shooting up to their highest in months in some categories.
A COE is what one needs to purchase and own a car in Singapore.
The prices in Cat A, which is for cars above 1,600cc or 130bhp, increased by 2.7 per cent to a four-month high of $80,710.
The COE prices in Open Cat, which is for any vehicle type, climbed 3.8 per cent to $82,000. This is also its highest since last November.
The highest jump, however, was for motorcycle COEs. They rose a significant 14.3 per cent to register at S$4,001 from S$3,501 – its highest since 1995.
The rise in the prices of these certificates perhaps reflects the worries of Singaporeans generally.
So when the Economist Intelligence Unit (EIU) ranked Singapore as the most expensive city in the world this year, it resonated with many Singaporeans.
This may explain why the DPM found it necessary to issue an immediate response to it in Parliament.
The EIU survey examined 160 services and products in 140 cities around the world. The survey list include food items, entertainment, and clothes and is aimed at helping human resource departments in companies decide where to place their workers, and the costs associated with this.
But just as swiftly as the news of Singapore rising to pole position as the most expensive city made the rounds around the world, Mr Tharman sought to downplay the EIU findings which, he said, were “really aimed at measuring expatriates’ cost of living in different parts of the world.”
“They are basically aimed at comparing cost of living for expatriates in different cities or countries,” the Finance Minister said. “Hence, there are two things that make these surveys quite different from the factors that affect the cost of living for Singaporeans.”
One of the two things he referred to is the strength of the Singapore dollar.
“An important reason why we have become an expensive place for expatriates,” he explained, “is that the Singapore dollar has strengthened. Indeed, the EIU report points this out.”
However, Mr Tharman said that a stronger dollar benefits Singaporeans, as it “improves purchasing power for Singaporeans – in Singapore because imported goods become cheaper (and for us, food and everyday items are all largely imported).”
The other thing which he said made the survey different for locals and expats was the items used in the study – these include imported cheese, fillet mignon.
“And Burberry-type raincoats,” Mr Tharman said, “which are not very common in Singapore. It also includes the price of the four best seats in the theatre; and three-course dinners at high-end restaurants for four people.”
He said, “It is not that these surveys are wrong, or that they are misguided. But they are measuring something quite different from the cost of living for an ordinary local in different cities around the world.”
The EIU, in response to Mr Tharman’s explanation, said it acknowledged the points raised by the minister. However, it said that the basket of goods which it used for the survey included many everyday items as well.
“The survey basket ranges from a loaf of bread to a luxury car,” Jon Copestake, the editor of the EIU study said. “In fact, the highest-weighted category in our survey is that of groceries and everyday staples which include goods like fresh fruits and vegetables, meat, fish, rice, etc.”
The EIU survey results come on the back of Singapore being recently ranked as the world’s seventh most expensive city in the Expatistan’s Cost of Living index, and according to Pricewaterhouse Coopers, its property market is among the world’s top ten most expensive.
At the same time, Singapore has one of the biggest income inequality gaps in the world.
These survey results, as with the EIU one, are thus generally seen by Singaporeans as reflective of the situation they face.
A January survey by the Singapore Polytechnic of young Singaporeans found that the cost of living was a “major worry” for them. Among their concerns were whether Singapore would be an affordable place for them to live in, and whether they would be able to afford a house and a car.
But it is not just the young who worry about living costs.
Elderly Singaporeans were also recently reported to have been advised by some doctors to let their Medishield premiums lapse because these senior citizens could no longer afford to pay for these.
Medishield is an insurance scheme which helps to pay for large hospitalisation bills.
The premiums “have risen so high” for older Singaporeans that “it has become impossible for (them) to maintain their coverage”, said the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health in August last year.
It prompted the government to step in and introduce the Pioneer Generation Package (PGP) last week. The PGP is basically to help Singaporeans 65-and above pay their Medishield premiums and to receive yearly Medisave top-ups, among other things.
But even as the elderly struggle, on the other end of the spectrum Singapore was named the wealthiest country in the world by Knight Frank in 2012, it also has the most concentration of millionaires in the world, and is ranked 6th for the number of billionaires.
And on the same day the EIU report was making the rounds, a Knight Frank report said Singapore will soon overtake Tokyo as the Asian city with the most ultra-high-net-worth – US$30 million and above – individuals within a decade.
That number is expected to be almost 5,000 individuals by 2023 – just one place behind London globally.
But increasingly, Singaporeans are questioning what all this mean for them on a daily basis as they have to put up with a more crowded city, keener competition for jobs, and an ever-rising cost of living where even affording basic daily necessities has become a challenge.
A BBC report last week on the poor in Singapore said “it comes as no surprise that the less well-off would struggle to pay for daily necessities.”
“There is no minimum wage or poverty line set and no welfare provision along the lines of many developed Western economies,” the BBC said.
But Mr Tharman said that low- and middle-income Singaporeans “have incomes that grow faster than the cost of living.”
“That is what is important and what we have fortunately been able to achieve,” he said in Parliament.
“Indeed, for the low-income households, if you exclude from the CPI index the imputed rentals for those who own their homes (they do not actually have to pay rentals), then the increase in real incomes of the 20th percentile household was 19% over the last five years.”

Subscribe
Notify of
0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
You May Also Like

疫情影响不能群聚 支持者把群众大会“搬上”虚拟游戏平台!

选举蛩音将近,各党也如火如荼在作准备。不过昨日选举局宣布,若选举在解封第二阶段期间召开,将无法进行大型现场集会,包括群众大会等。各政党要如何接触群众呢? 大家如今是各出奇招,有些走传统路线,解封后到各路拜访;也有者当起行走广告,在T恤上印上扫码,不用接触也能做宣传!不过,也有支持者开有趣玩笑,“建议”把群众大会搬到虚拟游戏平台“动物森友会”(Animal Crossing)! 游戏玩家Ng Yi Shu,在“动物森友会”中帮忙“布置”场地,看似要在动物森友会中办虚拟“集会”,其实只是支持者将动物森友会的截图进行图像处理,满足支持者前往现场集会,期待感受满满热情的现场。 工人党官方专页随后也打趣转发帖文,写道,“既然不能办现场集会,那不如在动物森友会里见面?” 而其他的组图也显示,支持者也顺便帮行动党布置了宣传柜台。“集会”现场还可看到演讲台、周边T恤、雨伞、杯子等等,即逗趣又有模有样。 其实小编想说,如果集会真的在动物森友会里办,也应该是很有创意的。

疑似霸座不点餐被请离席 女客户不甘大骂职员

霸座不点餐,若你是店内职员,你会怎么做?在义顺星巴克的员工在面对类似顾客时,直接请一名霸位不点餐,着装类似商人的女士离席,却引来女士的破口大骂。惟,女员工坦然接受,也没有恶言相向,甚至在妇女离开后,还扬手说“再见”,获得网民纷纷力赞有礼貌。 有关事件过程被网民拍下后上传到社交媒体上,在脸书群组All Singapore Stuff中也有写着“义顺星巴克出现霸座者大骂职员”的帖文,吸引了超过5万6000人观看,获得多大582个留言。 据悉,骂人事件发生于周末(14日)。在视频中,一名身穿深色外套和长裤的女士,没有点餐却坐在星巴克店内的椅子上。 这时,一名星巴克女职员趋前,请女士离席,引起女士的不满,开始指着女职员怒骂。 虽然视频中,大部分女士的说话内容不是很清楚,但是可以看出她是非常严厉的对着女职员“训话”,且长达一分钟,甚至最后还大喊“我警告你!”,似乎想要恐吓女职员。 然而女职员始终保持冷静,甚至在女士转身要离开时,说了声“再见”后就继续工作。 而女士在听到“再见”后,又转身来指着女职员开骂,甚至在女职员和她挥手道别时,越骂越大声。 网民大赞女职员有礼态度 很多网民都对女职员的态度表示欣赏,纷纷表示她冷静应对且不失礼貌的态度,非常值得鼓励。 另一方面,就有很多网民认为女士的态度过分,不应该用手指直指对方,也不应该大声怒骂。“女士应该是知道自己有错,却又很尴尬,所以才发飙的吧。”…

Former Ang Mo Kio Town Council general manager pleads guilty to receiving bribes totalling to S$86,000

In a twist of event after months of trial, an ex-general manager…