Reuters - 2 hours 38 minutes
ago
SINGAPORE, Feb 5 - Singapore's finance minister said on
Thursday the economic downturn was worsening and the government may
have to tap its multi-billion dollar pool of reserves for another
fiscal stimulus package next year.
Singapore was the first
country in Asia to fall into recession last year
and Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam reiterated a forecast
made before the country's January stimulus package that the economy
could shrink up to 5 percent this year.
"We are seeing continued momentum in the decline week by week,"
Tharman told parliament at a budget debate.
Singapore, a tiny city-state of 4.6 million, last month took the
unprecedented step of drawing on its reserves to help finance a
S$20.5 billion stimulus package as its economy shrunk for the third
straight quarter. [ID:nSP404398].
Tharman said the stimulus package was sufficient. It will result
in a budget deficit of about 6 percent of gross domestic product
for 2009/2010 before investment income and the top-up from
reserves.
"There is a possibility the government may have to go back to
the president and the CPA in a year's time to seek a further draw,"
Shanmugaratnam said, referring to the Council of Presidential
Advisers. Singapore's president, whose role is otherwise largely
ceremonial, is the formal guardian of the reserves.
A senior politician said on Sunday the government would dip into
the reserves only in times of crisis and to pay for welfare.
"As a general principle, the government must continue to fund
such programmes out of revenues raised in the current term of
government, not past reserves," former Prime Minister Goh Chok Tong
said
Singapore's two sovereign funds, Temasek [TEM.UL] and the
Government of Singapore Investment Corp, or GIC, together manage an
estimated $400 billion in assets. (Reporting by Kevin Lim; Writing
by Nopporn Wong-Anan; Editing by Jan Dahinten)
Why do u guys just pin point on the few quarters growth or first
country into recession?
Take Oz and SG as a example.The Down Under has been growing at
much lower
rate than SG for many years.So,do u want much higher growth rate
for years
or not first country in recession but lower growth rate for
decades?
u calculate the compound growth rate for 10 years than u
know
the big differences for one or two % points growth rate in a
year?
SG--1.048 to power 10=1.59
oz ---1.032 to power 10=1.37
so SG grew 59 % in ten years ,oz by 37%.
kk
kkk