Singapore budget deficit balloons: minister
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AFP - Tuesday, November 18
SINGAPORE, Nov 18, 2008 (AFP) - Singapore's budget deficit could be three times larger than initially estimated this year partly because of the global economic turmoil, the finance minister said in comments released Tuesday.
The government originally projected a deficit of 800 million dollars (524 million US) this fiscal year but expenditures are now expected to be significantly higher than budgeted, Tharman Shanmugaratnam said.
"We should therefore expect a significantly larger deficit in FY08 (fiscal year 2008) -- possibly more than three times larger than the initially estimated 800 million dollars," he said in a written response to a question raised in Parliament on Monday.
There may be some dampening of revenues in view of lower-than-expected economic growth and more subdued property transactions, especially in the last two quarters of the fiscal year, the minister said.
At the same time, government expenses have risen with an August announcement that cash handouts to ease the burden of a rising cost of living would be increased by 50 percent along with electricity rebates, Shanmugaratnam said.
In August the government also announced a doubling of spending on incentives to address a severe shortage of babies. These measures and "higher cost factors in infrastructural projects" have also contributed to the higher deficit, he said.
"The larger deficit is an appropriate fiscal stance in the context of an economy that has entered a slowdown," he said. "We will be able to fund the larger deficit from the surpluses we accumulated in FY07, when we had unexpectedly higher revenues."
Singapore, which is already in recession, could experience negative growth next year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned on Sunday.
To help deal with the downturn and to prepare for the future, the government is bringing forward its budget from February to January, Lee said. The proposed budget will include measures to support growth and jobs, strengthen business competitiveness and stimulate domestic demand, he said.
Singapore, which is already in recession, could experience negative growth next year, Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong warned on Sunday. --- recession? why are the Pay and Pay still continue to overpay themselves obscene pay since this is recession??? Greedy, very greedy. Does recession not apply to the Pay and Pay?
LKY did mention that they have enough to cope with the recession.
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<...."We will be able to fund the larger deficit from the surpluses we accumulated in FY07, when we had unexpectedly higher revenues.">
It wasn't unexpected high revenues. It was a projected deficit turned surplus of 1.6billions!
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The many losses in Temasek's investments are not stated by Tharman in this article.
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this means only one thing!
the ministers will give themselves a salary increase to overcome this period of tough times
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Recesssion does not affect them continue to draw super high undeserved world class salary. To be fair, tharman should include the losses in investments from Temasek Holdings. Temasek, ho chingxx is not using the lee family's $ to invest, they are using the money of the people to invest, so the nation has the right to know about this.
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it is time they announce a heavy pay cut.
they shouldnt get any bonus too.
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I really worry for the future.
So much losses in the past 1 year alone.
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Originally posted by charlize:
I really worry for the future.
So much losses in the past 1 year alone.
worry is too mild a word....i'm terrified
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Originally posted by de_middle:
worry is too mild a word....i'm terrified
I am so worried that one day, we wake up and everything is gone.
Really.
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Originally posted by charlize:
I am so worried that one day, we wake up and everything is gone.
Really.
There is bad worry and good worry in SIngapore ,the bad worry is when garmen dont tell you everything and the good worry is they tell you nothing,so dont worry.
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If they didn't pump prime the economy through monetary expansionism, we could have been in recession at the first half of the year.
Price levels at 6% to 8% and workforce layoffs, I would say Singapore is not in a recession, it's stagflation.
I hope LHL can fix the economy since he has less political opponents to fix, hope with the enormous salary he is paid, he is able to correct Singapore's economy and not rely on the global economy to correct itself to save Singapore.
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Originally posted by Fantagf:
The many losses in Temasek's investments are not stated by Tharman in this article.
He just follow the script written by PAP, edited by Ho Chen, dun blame him ya. -
Originally posted by dragg:
it is time they announce a heavy pay cut.
they shouldnt get any bonus too.
What pay cuts??? reduce bonuses??? no no,it should be "Pap Retrenchment" by 50%
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Originally posted by angel7030:
What pay cuts??? reduce bonuses??? no no,it should be "Pap Retrenchment" by 50%
Pap will never get retrenchmentone lar
they talented ppl u know from RI and harvard
how can cut pay ,later they cant think har then how
later they tell u ok increase ERP 3 bucks per gantry
ok increase joo chiat rental to 3x
then die liao lar
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Originally posted by maurizio13:
If they didn't pump prime the economy through monetary expansionism, we could have been in recession at the first half of the year.
Price levels at 6% to 8% and workforce layoffs, I would say Singapore is not in a recession, it's stagflation.
I hope LHL can fix the economy since he has less political opponents to fix, hope with the enormous salary he is paid, he is able to correct Singapore's economy and not rely on the global economy to correct itself to save Singapore.
Don't get your hopes so high.
It has been proven time and time again that they are followers who wait for things to happen.
That's right, you pay them million dollar salaries for them to wait and follow what other countries are doing.
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Originally posted by charlize:
Don't get your hopes so high.
It has been proven time and time again that they are followers who wait for things to happen.
That's right, you pay them million dollar salaries for them to wait and follow what other countries are doing.
Singaporeans paid multi-millon dollars salaries a year for a Xerox machine.
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Originally posted by maurizio13:
Singaporeans paid multi-millon dollars salaries a year for a Xerox machine.
Hanor.
This copier doesn't take coins unlike conventional copiers. Only million dollar notes.
Then it will print out.
And even then the print out is always unclear and of bad quality.
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i think to improve the quality of print requires.. another round of increase in minister pay?
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Originally posted by maurizio13:
If they didn't pump prime the economy through monetary expansionism, we could have been in recession at the first half of the year.
Price levels at 6% to 8% and workforce layoffs, I would say Singapore is not in a recession, it's stagflation.
I hope LHL can fix the economy since he has less political opponents to fix, hope with the enormous salary he is paid, he is able to correct Singapore's economy and not rely on the global economy to correct itself to save Singapore.
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Originally posted by noahnoah:
Pap will never get retrenchmentone lar
they talented ppl u know from RI and harvard
how can cut pay ,later they cant think har then how
later they tell u ok increase ERP 3 bucks per gantry
ok increase joo chiat rental to 3x
then die liao lar
What is benefit of retrenching lower n average income peoples, if it can save them 100millions per years, then why not remove a few Ministers and top peoples who earn multi millions, afterall these are the people who makes the wrong decision, therefore they must take responsibility for it. -
Originally posted by angel7030:
What is benefit of retrenching lower n average income peoples, if it can save them 100millions per years, then why not remove a few Ministers and top peoples who earn multi millions, afterall these are the people who makes the wrong decision, therefore they must take responsibility for it.Sorry, the buck stops at the people below the ministers.
Unless of course it's to give credit for something good.
I don't even have to give you examples to show you that this is how things operate in sg.
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Originally posted by charlize:
Sorry, the buck stops at the people below the ministers.
Unless of course it's to give credit for something good.
I don't even have to give you examples to show you that this is how things operate in sg.
The ironic is that we are paying them to retrenched us,...is that what you implied. OMG -
They like to say that they are the most talented and most capable. If they are really so capable and talented, they should be responsible enough to realise that there are the desperately poor who need their million dollar salaries much more than they do. I dont see why the supposedly smartest people around need such extravagant salaries to justify their jobs at this point in time. In normal circumstances they can say that they are pegging their salaries to the top private sector jobs. But during recession, dont tell me the 'best and brightest' will quit or turn corrupt just cos they arent getting the millions? So the 'pay to keep the best' argument goes out the window.
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Originally posted by HyperionDCZ:
They like to say that they are the most talented and most capable. If they are really so capable and talented, they should be responsible enough to realise that there are the desperately poor who need their million dollar salaries much more than they do. I dont see why the supposedly smartest people around need such extravagant salaries to justify their jobs at this point in time. In normal circumstances they can say that they are pegging their salaries to the top private sector jobs. But during recession, dont tell me the 'best and brightest' will quit or turn corrupt just cos they arent getting the millions? So the 'pay to keep the best' argument goes out the window.
Reverse Psychology apply here, top private sector jobs will slack in time of recession, therefore, most get removed or paid cuts. But during a recession, our talented pools in the Govt get busy in trying to find the correct words and phrases to console the citizens and also in way putting their talents into great use, most important on the project "how to tax the citizens more in time of recession". And that need talent mind that no school every taught. So we should pay them more for such initiatives. -
Originally posted by HyperionDCZ:
They like to say that they are the most talented and most capable. If they are really so capable and talented, they should be responsible enough to realise that there are the desperately poor who need their million dollar salaries much more than they do. I dont see why the supposedly smartest people around need such extravagant salaries to justify their jobs at this point in time. In normal circumstances they can say that they are pegging their salaries to the top private sector jobs. But during recession, dont tell me the 'best and brightest' will quit or turn corrupt just cos they arent getting the millions? So the 'pay to keep the best' argument goes out the window
They pay themselves millions and millions to avoid corruption and LKY believes to pay high high to get the best people to work. These are just lame excuses, indirectly it can be viewed as corruption in itself. Sorry, but I don't see any talent among the Pay and Pay's ministers. But if you are talking about money making then I agree they do have the talent to explore in many areas to earn quick big bucks out of the public.
I don't believe lee hsien loong can help "fix " the economy, he just can't make it lah. If he is that capable, he will not need at least 3 ministers to assist him - they are his papa, LKY, Goh C T, Wong Can't Sing, Lee Boon Heng , did I miss out any ministers??