Budget 2008
April 8th, 2007 by ALVIN SOONG
Singapore has already been affected by this recent rise in global inflation. Inflation was about 2% for 2007 as a whole, but it was much higher and reached 4.4% for December 2007. Overall, we currently expect inflation at 4.5% to 5.5% in 2008, but with inflation being higher in the first half of the year than the second.
- Oil prices have risen by 50% over the last year. Raw food prices at the end of January 2008 had risen by 55% globally, compared to a year ago.
- Prices of certain essential items like cooking oil, bread, milk and other dairy products have gone up significantly over the past year.
- Commodity prices in general have risen by 31%. All these increases in raw material prices have cascaded down into higher transport costs, more expensive manufactured goods, and costlier consumer foods. We therefore have to brace ourselves for a period of relatively higher inflation globally, which will affect the prices of the goods we import
- The GST increase, which has been compensated for, and the Annual Values of homes, which have no material impact on Singaporeans.
- The rapid growth of our economy has also pushed up wages and rental costs. However Singapore will not let domestic inflationary expectations set in, because it will entrench inflation in Singapore even after external inflationary pressures have subsided.
SOLUTIONS
- First, we seek to moderate imported inflation through our Singapore dollar exchange rate policy.
- Second, we are stepping up diversification of food sources so as to minimise spikes in the prices of foods we import which would otherwise happen when there is a disruption in supply from any one country.
- The third way in which Government policies help Singaporeans cope with inflation has been our support of home ownership as a key pillar of society, and especially the heavy subsidies that we provide for lower-income Singaporeans to own a home.
- Fourth, the Government provides assistance directly to Singaporeans who face problems coping with the cost of living. Eg. the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS), ComCare Fund scheme introduced last year.
- When government make good surpluses on the budget, they are redistributed benefits back to Singaporeans, with more going towards the elderly and the needy.
- Fifthly, the Government’s strategy is the most fundamental to how we cope with rising global inflation.
You can extract the info. from the following annexes:
fy2008_budget_statement-speech.pdf
fy2008_budget_highlights.pdf
fy2008_growth_dividends.pdf
annex-a-enhancements-to-financial-assistance-for-tertiary-education.pdf
annex-b-1-tax-change-to-encourage-continual-upgrading.pdf
annex-b-2-research-and-development-rd-tax-measures.pdf
annex-b-3-enhancing-business-competitiveness.pdf
annex-b-4-estate-duty.pdf
annex-b-5-special-tax-and-liquor-duties.pdf
annex-b-6-other-tax-changes.pdf
annex-c-life-bonus-l-bonus.pdf
annex-d-budget-for-fy2007-and-fy2008.pdf
Compiled, Summarised and Extracted in Feb 2008 from Straits Times and http://www.singaporebudget.gov.sg/
