http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5gL3MVX2hlENQZf6Kg5VWP-QPcnBg
Longer queues for free food in wealthy Singapore: charities
19 minutes ago
SINGAPORE (AFP) — Rising food prices are driving more people in
Singapore, the wealthiest economy in Southeast Asia, to join the
queue for free meals, charities said Monday.
Thirty percent more people are turning up daily to fill their
stomachs at the Singapore Buddhist Lodge, which serves free
vegetarian meals, the temple's president Lee Bock Guan said.
During weekends the figures are even higher, when about 5,000
people arrive for the free food compared to 3,000 three months ago,
he told AFP.
"Food prices have gone up and for them, their wages have not gone
up as much," he said, adding the needy are coming from all walks of
life.
"Their income is not enough to cope with the higher food
prices."
Lee said donations from some of the temple's wealthiest members are
still strong, allowing it to handle the rising demand.
The Care Corner Seniors Activity Centre, which serves free
breakfast, lunch and afternoon tea, said inflation has led 10
percent more elderly citizens to turn up for meals, compared with
two months ago.
Some of them have started to take more food at lunch and bring the
extra home for their dinner, said a centre worker who declined to
be named.
The Young Women's Christian Association, which cooks meals and
delivers them to the needy, said it is operating at peak capacity
serving 200 people each day -- despite a drop in rice
donations.
"One of the possible reasons could be the increasing price of
rice," programme executive Han Shin Hui said, adding donations of
other food items such as biscuits have increased.
She said the organisation has had to use its own funds to cover the
drop in rice donations.
Singapore is an island state that imports virtually all its food
needs.
Consumer price index inflation reached 6.6 percent in
January-February, up from 0.8 percent in the first half of last
year, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said last
week.
MAS announced it had tightened monetary policy in a bid to address
the price rises.
