http://theonlinecitizen.com/2007/08/27/the-relentless-rising-cost-of-living-in-singapore/
The relentless rising cost of living in Singapore
Posted by theonlinecitizen on August 27, 2007
The following is a collated list of price increases which TOC could
find from various news reports, blogs, websites, forums, etc
since Jan 2006 to the present.
If we have left out any, please do let us know. If you have
observed any price hikes around your neighbourhood (or anywhere
else) please let us know also.
We can be reached at [email protected]
The list may not be comprehensive and any clarification is
welcome.
2006
Jan 9: Pump prices at all 29 Caltex stations will go up from 11pm
on Monday night. Prices will go up by four cents per litre for all
three grades. (link)
Feb 13: Polytechnics and ITE increase fees by $50 and $10
respectively (link) (link)
Feb 14: NTU, NUS to raise tuition fees by 3% from next academic
year. Tuition fees at both the National University of Singapore and
Nanyang Technological University will go up by S$180 for the next
academic year. This 3 percent increase comes on the heels of a 5
percent hike just last year. (link)
Mar 6: Expect annual tuition fee increases. Hostel fees will also
go up by 10% to 11% from next academic year. (NTU) (link)
Mar 9: Retail pump prices for Synergy petrol and diesel at all Esso
and Mobil service stations in Singapore were increased by 6 cents a
litre. (link) (link)
June 1: NTUC Car Co-Op raises fuel surcharge: We cannot continue
subsidizing the fuel price increase in the long run without
compromising the quality of service. Thus, the management has
decided to implement a fuel surcharge of $0.30 for every 10km free
with effect from 1 June 2006. (link)
June 27: Electricity tariff to go up next quarter. Domestic users,
for example, will have to pay 21.15 cents for every kWH of
electricity, up from 20.49 cents currently. (link)
July 10: Comfort Delgro raises taxi fares. Besides raising the flag
down fare and the peak hour surcharge from $1 to $2, ComfortDelgro
is also making distance-related adjustment. (link) (link)
July: Taxi companies raise fares. (link) (link)
July 17: SMRT hikes taxi fares. (link)
Aug: SMRT, SBS apply for fare hike. (link)
Aug: NUS hikes tuition fees by between $180, $220, and $510,
depending on faculty. (link)
Aug: ERP rates to go up at six gantries, mainly at CTE.
(link)
Oct: Public Transport Council approves 1.7% fare increase for bus
and trains. Adult EZ-link fares for buses and trains will increase
by 1 to 3 cents, which amounts to an overall fare hike of 1.7
percent. (link)
Nov: SingPost revises postage rate. (link)
Nov 12: Rates for HDB rental flats pegged to income. (link)
Dec: Govt spells out fees to be frozen. (link)
2006: Loan sharks cases rise by 19%, to 10, 221 cases. (link)
2006: A total of 419 people committed suicide in 2006, up from 346
in 2003. The suicide rate per 100,000 residents - a sobering
indicator in population statistics - is also on the upswing,
growing from 9.3 in 2003 to 10.3 in 2006, figures from the Registry
of Births and Deaths reveal. It is the fourth straight rise in as
many years. (ST, Aug 13, 2007) (link)
2006: Islandwide, home rentals climbed 10 per cent in 2006. (ST,
Aug 6, 2007) (link)
2006: At Alexandra Hospital, A&E charges went up from $55 to
$60, as did C-class ward charges from $21 to $23 and subsidised
specialist outpatient clinic consultation rates, from $18 to $20.
(link)
2007
Jan: All diesel-driven vehicles to undergo smoke test. (link)
Jan: NUHs A&E fee raised from $70 to $80. (link)
Jan: Skilled Foreign workers levy raised by $50, from $100 to $150,
for all sectors. (link) (link)
Jan 26: SMU Law Course to cost more, NUS says it may increase fees
too. (link)
Feb: KK Womens and Childrens Hospital hikes ward treatment fees.
(link)
Feb 14: Tax penalties from GST audits could increase. With the hike
in Goods and Services Tax (GST) by two percentage points, tax
analysts said tax penalties arising from businesses making mistakes
in GST audits may also increase. (link)
Feb 25: Sunny Cove: Fees to Pulau Hantu Raised - As of 24th
February 2007 (Saturday), the operator had increased the price for
the chartering of boat to local water. With the price hike, all
courses conducted at local water will be subjected to the increase
from 25th February 2007 (Sunday) onwards. (link)
Feb 25: Eldershield premiums to go up by years end. (link)
April 1: Singapore Medical Association withdraws guidelines on
fees. Doctors now have more flexibility to adjust their fees,
following a decision by the Singapore Medical Association (SMA) to
withdraw its guidelines on fees, as of 1 April. (link)
April 1: URA increase fees for Housing Developerss Licence from
between $500 to $8,000. (link)
April 2: NUS revise car park charges. (link)
April 8: Means testing for hospital admission to start within a
year. Subsidised patients that stay more than five days in a public
hospital can expect some questions about their income. (link)
(link)
April 11: Ikea to start charging customers for plastic bags. (ST,
11 April, 2007)
April 25: The Singapore American School increased tuition fees by
between $425 and $1,000. (link)
April: Within hours of each other, the four petrol companies in
Singapore - First Shell, then Singapore Petroleum Company (SPC),
ExxonMobil and lastly Chevron - each revised its prices. The retail
price of petrol and diesel rose by 10 cents. (Electric New Paper)
(link) (link)
May 12: Inflation heads for a higher plane. For now, the major
public concern is a rise in the Goods and Services Tax (GST) from
5% to 7% in July, which is likely to exacerbate the series of
worrying price increases over the past year. (Littlespeck)
May 14: NUH increase ward charges for B2 and C-class wards by $2,
increases of 4 and 8 per cent. (link)
May 23: DBS raises its e-transaction fee for initial public
offering (IPO) applications. Retail investors who applied for IPO
shares launched on or after that date, through the local banks
ATMs and Internet banking, were surprised that they now have to pay
$2. (link)
May 29: New fee hikes at public hospitals and polyclinics. A NEW
round of fee hikes is underway at most public hospitals and some
polyclinics. Subsidised patients at four public hospitals will now
pay $24 or $25 for every visit to a specialist clinic, up from
about $21. All 18 polyclinics, which used to charge a standard
consultation fee of $8 for adults, now charge anything from
$8-$8.80. (link) (link) (link)
May: From milk to Milo, cooking oil to coffee, canned foods,
processed foods, wheat products and more, prices have been rising
recently at supermarkets and hypermarts here. (link) (link)
(link)
June 1: Prices of milk go up. The price increase for condensed milk
ranged from $0.10 to $0.50, which means the prices for some brands
of condensed milk have gone up by nearly 45 per cent. The price
increase for evaporated milk ranged from $0.15 to $0.47, marking a
percentage increase of between 18 per cent to 48 per cent. (link)
(link)
June 4: Online hosiery shop increases price. There will be a
overall price increase on 4th June 2007 for all brands due to
increased cost of yarns and cost of shipping. (link)
June 6: Even before the Nets fee hike kicks in, a shoe shop in
Parkway Parade has already started charging customers extra to
cover the increase. (link)
June 7: Wholesale price of ducks goes up. The wholesale price of
ducks has increased by 20 cents a kilogram. (link)
June 7: Eggs price increase. Eggs now cost between 17 cents and 18
cents each. (link)
June 29: Rental space rents rise. Islandwide, rents at Grade A
malls have moved up by between 5-7 per cent in the first half of
this year and could increase by another 5-6 per cent by end-2007,
analysts said. (Business Times, June 29, 2007) (link)
June 29: Fees up by 14% on average at NUS. Two days before the
higher 7-per-cent GST kicked in on July 1, prospective students of
the continuing education arm of the National University of
Singapore (NUS) received news that fees for many courses had gone
up by an average 14 per cent. (link)
July 1st: GST increased from 5% to 7%. (link) (link)
July 1st: THE Singapore Petroleum Company (SPC) and market leader
ExxonMobil became the first companies to raise pump prices at their
petrol stations following the GST hike. The two companies increased
prices across the board for their three grades of petrol and diesel
by 0.23 cents to 0.33 cents per litre from 7am. Caltex will be
increasing its pump prices on Monday. (ST, July 1, 2007) (link)
(link)
July 1st: NETS announced a price hike for its Electronic Funds
Transfer Point-of-Sale (EFTPOS) and CashCard Services to between
1.5% and 1.8%. (link) (link)
July 1st: Pasir Ris Punggol Town Council revise penalties for
late payment of S&C charges to 2% and absorb 7% GST. (2004
rates) (2007 rates)
July 1st: Cigarette prices up as bar ban kicks in. Tobacco
companies raised the prices of popular brands by an average of 40
cents. This brought the price of a 20-stick pack of Marlboro or
Dunhill cigarettes, for example, to $11.60. (AsiaOne)
July 3: Resale price index for HDB flats rise 2.9% from 3 months
before. (link)
July 4: The Committee Against GST Profiteering (CAP) has found
price changes to be generally moderate since the announcement of
the GST increase in November 2006. (link)
July 10: Changi General Hospital increases A&E charges.
Following in the wake of earlier hikes by the National University
Hospital and Alexandra Hospital, CGH this month increased its
A&E attendance fee by $10 or 15 per cent to $75. For the B2
and C-class wards, the daily treatment fee went up by $1,
representing a 6-to-10-per-cent increment. The daily ward charge
for B2 wards also rose by $1, or 2 per cent. (link)
July 11: Starhub raise prices for cable tv packages. SCV
subscribers pay $4 more across the board. (link) (link)
(link)
July 11: The Committee Against GST Profiteering has received 33
complaints in the past six months about price increases, all
dealing with food items. About 10 cases involve chain businesses.
(ST, July 11, 2007) (link)
July 15: Electricity tariffs to be raised by almost 9% for July to
September. (link)
July 18: Govt raises development charge from 50% to 70% for new
building projects from 50 per cent to 70 per cent of the increase
in value of the land. (link) (link)
July 21: HDB rents at 10-year high. For the first time in recent
memory, monthly rents for some HDB flats have pushed northwards of
$2,000 in leases signed in the last couple of months. (ST, 21 July
2007) (link)
July 25: Hospital bills up 10% to 30% across all ward classes.
(link)
July: July inflation hits 2.6%, highest in over 12 years.
(link)
July (CPI): Housing costs increased 4.9 per cent because of higher
housing maintenance charges, electricity tariffs and rented
accommodation costs. (ST, Aug 23, 2007) (link)
July (CPI): Food prices went up by 1.4 per cent, mainly due to
dearer cooked food, fresh fish, fruits, vegetables and milk powder.
(link)
July (CPI): Transport and communication prices moved up by 1 per
cent, reflecting mainly dearer petrol and higher car prices.
(link)
July (CPI): The index for education and stationery rose by 2.1 per
cent as a result of higher fees at commercial institutions and
universities. (link)
July (CPI): Prices of clothing and footwear increased by 3.9 per
cent. (link)
July (CPI): Health care cost rose by 2.2 per cent on account of
dearer chinese herbs and higher charges for general medical
consultation and dental treatment. (link)
Aug 2: SBS, SMRT seeking bus, train fare increases. If approved,
transport fares could rise by up to three cents from October.
(link)
Aug 2: Singapore Airlines raises fuel surcharge from between
US$2, US$5 and US$9. (link)
Aug 6: ERP rates at Orchard, YMCA and Fort Canning Tunnel to go up.
From August 6, cars passing the Orchard, YMCA and Fort Canning
Tunnel gantries will be charged an additional $0.50. That makes it
$1 per entry. Rates for motorcycles will also double to $0.50.
Goods vehicles and small buses will now be charged $1.50. Heavy
goods vehicles and big buses will be charged $2. (link)
Aug 7: Student made to pay adult fare. (link)
Aug 7: Cost of living in Spore getting higher compared to
neighbours. Singapore retains its 9th position out of 41 Asian
locations as the most costly city. (CNA)
Aug 7: Car insurance premiums likely to increase. Higher premium
rates for car insurance look almost certain, after the motor sector
suffered a second consecutive quarter of losses. Rises could be
between 5 and 10 per cent, according to one insurer, as the
industry battles higher claims. (AsiaOne, ST, Aug 7, 2007)
Aug 8: 17% hike in Delifrances tuna croissant sandwich, from $5.05
to $5.90. (link)
Aug 10: Change of supplier sees spike in price of medicine. A 80ml
bottle of Minoxi 5 from Trima Pharmaceutical used to cost $38.50.
This time round, the price was $45.50 for a 60ml bottle. Going by
volume, the price increase was a hefty 57.6 per cent. (ST Forum,
Aug 10, 2007) (link)
Aug 13: Up to 30% levy imposed on hotel room revenues during F1
race. The Trade and Industry Ministry (MTI) has decided a levy of
30 per cent for hotels on the trackside, and 20 per cent for
others. (link)
Aug 23: More ERP gantries, extended hours. (link) (link)
Aug 24: By Aug 24, the Committee Against GST Profiteering had
received 115 complaints on alleged GST profiteering. In the first
two weeks of July, after the GST increase came into effect, 49
complaints were received, surpassing the 30 complaints received in
May. (ST, Aug 29, 2007)
Aug 27: Singapore raises 2007 inflation forecast to 1-2 per cent.
Singapores central bank confirmed an apparent off-the-cuff remark
by Trade and Industry Minister Lim Hng Kiang in parliament that
inflation would come in at 1-2 percent this year, above the
governments previous forecast of 0.5-1.5 percent. (Reuters)
Aug 29: Middle-aged suicide rate up. In 2003, there were 14
suicides (of men in their 40s and 50s) per 100,000. In 2006, it
went up to 19 per 100,000. For women, there were 8 per 100,000. In
2006, it went up to 13 per 100,000. (TODAY, Aug 29, 2007)
(link)
Aug 29: Storage boom as rents rise. Companies which provide
self-storage facilities are reporting a rise in rentals by
foreigners as rising rental prices force more of them to downsize.
(The Electric New Paper, Aug 29, 2007) (link)
Aug 31: Government raises property development charges. For
non-landed residential use, the charge was raised by an average of
58 percent with prime areas like Cantonment Road seeing the biggest
jump of 112 percent. Areas seeing the highest increase (of over 100
percent) include Telok Ayer, Maxwell, Shenton, Anson and South
Bridge Road. (CNA)
Sept 1st: New dog licensing rules. To discourage dog owners from
keeping unlicensed dogs, allowing their dogs to stray or not
muzzling dogs of breeds2 that are required to be muzzled in a
public place (eg, the Rottweiller or Mastiff); the maximum fine for
such offences has been raised from $500 to $5,000. (link)
Sept 5: Esso wont go public on fuel price changes. IF YOU are an
Esso customer, you will not know if the price of your fuel has
changed until you drive right up to a pump. ExxonMobil - the
biggest player here with 74 out of the total of about 200 stations
- has adopted a new policy against revealing changes in pump prices
to the media. Neither does it display prices at station entrances.
(Straits Times, Sept 5, 2007)
Sept 11: Adult EZ-link fares for buses upped from October. From 1
October, adult EZ-link fares for buses will increase by between one
and two cents. But there will be no increase for train fares.
(CNA)
Sept 12: Special needs school raise fees by 100%. I was shocked to
receive a letter in July stating that school fees would increase by
100 per cent from this month. No other institution - even private
schools - operates in this manner by increasing its fees by 100 per
cent. (Letter to ST forum)
Sept 13: Employers to buy medical insurance for foreign workers.
From January next year (200
, employers will have to buy and maintain insurance for
the medical expenses of all foreign workers on Work Permit or S
Pass. (CNA)
Sept 25: Electricity tariffs to go up because of higher oil prices.
Barely 2 months after the increase of 9% in July, electricity
tariffs will again go up later this year because of higher oil
prices. SP Services said electricity tariffs will be raised by an
average of 0.86 cent, or 4.29 percent, per kilowatt-hour, for the
three months from October to December. (CNA)
Sept 25: Cosmetics costing more? Taking a hit from the Goods and
Services Tax hike, prices of consumer products in Singapore grew at
a pace not seen since 1994. (TODAY)
Sept 27: Gardenia loaf of bread cost 5% more in three months.
Yesterday we found out that its price has soared to $2. If you
work that out against the original $1.90, it means that the total
price increased is 5.3 per cent in three months. (Letter to ST
forum page.)
Sept 29: Why higher fees for vacant flat? MY LATE grandfather, who
was the sole owner and occupier of a three-room HDB flat, had been
paying $38 a month in conservancy fees to the town council. His
estate now has to pay $55 a month (a 45 per cent increase) for the
vacant flat, the reason being that the $38 concessionary charge no
longer applies as it is now unoccupied. (Letter to ST Forum
Page)(link)
Sept: Singapore Indian Fine Arts Society to increase fees from
between $5 to $10 due to the society becoming a GST-registered
entity. (link)
Oct: Starhub Cable TV sports channels subscribers pay $10 more.
(link)
Oct 1: Public transport fare increase takes effect.
Oct 1: Private home prices in Q3 up by 8%: URA flash estimate. The
prices of private residential property in Singapore increased by
eight per cent in the third quarter of this year.. (CNA)
Oct 1: HDB resale prices up by 6.5% in Q3: HDBs flash estimate.
Public housing resale prices went up by 6.5 percent in the third
quarter of this year, compared to the previous three months.
(CNA)
Oct 1: Petrol, diesel price up 3-5 cents. At 10am, Caltex increased
its petrol and diesel prices by 3 cents a litre, while Shell upped
its rates by 5 cents a litre. By 3pm, Singapore Petroleum Co
followed suit by raising its pump rates by 5 cents a litre. The
increase is the fifth upward revision since July, as crude oil
prices hover at record levels above US$80 a barrel. (AsiaOne)
Oct 1: Hotel room rates expected to go up by 25% in Q4. Hotel room
rates in Singapore in the fourth quarter are expected to be 25 per
cent higher than that of last year, according to industry players.
(CNA)
Oct 3: The price of chickens has risen by 20 to 50 per cent here
since last week, caused by the wholesale price hike from Malaysia,
among the factors, according to media reports. (Bernama)
Oct 4: Queensway Shopping Centre, Sim Lim Square and sky-high
rentals in Singapore. As the leases are expiring about now, get
ready for a radical change in Sim Lim Square, the highest�rentals
for the shops selling the lowest margin products ever. (C Net
Asia)
Oct 19: SIA ups fuel surcharge by between $3 and $9. The new
charges, which are between $3 and nearly $9 more than the current
surcharges, will apply to tickets issued from Oct 24 and to both
SIA and SilkAir flights. (TODAY)
Oct 20: Price of flour up 30%. The price of flour has increased
again, but this time it has gone up by thirty percent. This is the
biggest ever hike, according to industry watchers. From January, it
will cost 20 cents more to buy a loaf of bread. (CNA)
Oct 22: Caltex petrol, diesel prices up. AMERICAN oil company
Chevron raised pump prices of its Caltex petrol and diesel by five
cents a litre on Monday - the sixth increase since July and the
second in about a fortnight. The others - Shell, ExxonMobil and
Singapore Petroleum - are likely to do likewise in the coming days.
Chevrons move brings its pump prices to record levels. (Straits
Times)
Oct 26: Private home prices up 8.3% in Q3. Singapore private home
prices rose 8.3 percent between July and September to their highest
level in a decade. (Asia One)
Oct 27: Prices of HDB resale flats keep accelerating. As at
end-September, the HDB resale price index has increased by about 11
per cent since the start of the year, the HDB said. For five-room
flats, the median resale price in Queenstown is the highest at
$603,000, followed by Marine Parade at $560,000 and Bukit Merah at
$530,000. (Straits Times)
Oct 28: Singapore raises noodle prices. Starting Nov. 1, the price
of noodles in Singapore will increase 20 percent to 30 per cent,
the Singapore Noodles Manufacturers Association announced on
Sunday. (AHN News)
Oct 30: ERP rates going up again for third time this year.
Electronic Road Pricing (ERP) rates are going up again for the
third time this year. There will also be new gantries erected. From
November 5, motorists will pay $3.50 from 7:30am to 8:00am. The
amount charged goes up to $5.00 between 8:30am and 9:00am. This is
a $1.50 increase in the 8:30am to 9:00am period since February this
year. (CNA)
Oct 30: 100 bakeries to raise bread prices by up to 20%. OVER 100
bakeries have indicated that they will be raising bread prices by
up to 20 per cent, following a jump in flour prices. (Straits
Times)
Nov 2: Expect steep hikes in tyre, wheel and battery prices.
BESIDES record fuel prices and higher Electronic Road Pricing
rates, motorists must prepare to pay more for batteries, tyres and
wheels. The Singapore Motor Tyre Dealers Association is preparing
to announce sizeable price hikes, with battery prices going up by
as much as 50 to 70 per cent. Tyre prices will go up by 20 to 30
per cent, and wheels by 10 to 20 per cent, the associations
assistant secretary, Mr Robert Tng, told The Straits Times.
(Straits Times)
Nov 5: A TRIP to the supermarket will cost more now than it did at
the beginning of the year. A Straits Times check on a random basket
of basic goods sold at supermarkets here revealed price increases
in almost every category, from fresh chicken to coffee and milk
formula. (Straits Times)
Nov 5: Prices for Singapore Petroleum Company Limited (SPC) motor
gasoline across all three grades and diesel will be increased by
seven cents per litre. (SPC)
Nov 8: Raffles Place retailers face space crunch, soaring rents. A
recent study by property consultant Cushman & Wakefield found
rent rises of up to 24 per cent over the past two years in the
area. (Straits Times)
Nov 23: Singapores October CPI up 3.6% on-year, 1.3% on-month.
Singapores October consumer prices rose 3.6 percent from a year
earlier after an increase in the Goods and Services Tax (GST),
government data showed on Friday. (CNA)
Nov 29: Pump prices increase by 5 cents. All four oil companies
Shell, Caltex, ExxonMobil and Singapore Petroleum Company (SPC)
have increased pump prices for petrol and diesel by five cents. In
the past 11 months, the price of petrol has shot up nine times and
twice just in this month alone. (CNA)
Nov 29: Second Link toll charges to go up next year. VEHICLES from
Singapore crossing into Johor via the Second Link Expressway will
have to pay higher tolls from Jan 1, the Malaysian government
announced yesterday. Passenger cars using the Second Link route
will have to pay RM10.80 (S$4.60) next year, compared with RM8.40
now. (Asia One)
2007: HDB ups valuation and administrative fees for valuation
report of flats. This is to include the new 7% GST. (link)
Quote:
Aug 24:
With rents rising, and some retailers not passing on the GST hike
until later, we expect CPI inflation to continue to climb, probably
close to 3 per cent towards year-end, said Citigroup economist
Chua Hak Bin.
Consumers Association of Singapore president Yeo Guat Kwang, who
is also MP for Aljunied GRC, said if prices go up because of supply
and demand conditions, that cannot be helped: What we need to
ensure is that price adjustments are fair.
So far, we havent seen a phenomenon of businesses profiteering
from the GST rise, said Mr Yeo, who is the deputy chairman of the
Committee Against GST Profiteering.
Most importantly, prices of basic necessities have remained
stable.
(Straits Times, Aug 24, 2007)
