CDL luxury development garners green award - Singapore

CDL luxury development garners green award - Singapore
CITY Developments Limited (CDL) was yesterday conferred the Green Mark Platinum award by the Building and Construction Authority (BCA) for its luxury residential development, Cliveden at Grange.
 
Eco-friendly: Cliveden’s green features are expected to achieve savings in energy costs of over $400,000 a year for the entire development 
The award is for exemplary green projects that achieve 30 per cent energy and water savings. Such projects also need to have environmentally sustainable building practices, and innovative green features.

A joint press statement from CDL and BCA said some 3.5 per cent of Cliveden’s construction cost was invested in the design of its green features.

These green features include the installation of ‘4 Green Ticks’, the highest rating in energy efficiency for air-conditioners and refrigerators, and the use of renewal energy technology. Solar photovoltaic cells are installed to harness solar energy which then power up the lighting in the guardhouse and clubhouse areas.

Cliveden’s green features are expected to achieve savings in energy costs of over $400,000 a year for the entire development, and cut carbon dioxide emission by 1,100 tonnes a year. As a gauge, it takes about 5,000 trees to absorb this amount of carbon emission.

Cliveden’s award is the latest in a string of accolades CDL has received for its environmentally friendly projects.

Just last year, the property developer clinched two Green Mark Platinum awards - one each for The Oceanfront @ Sentosa Cove (residential), and City Square Mall (commercial).

Kwek Leng Joo, CDL’s managing director, yesterday said CDL embarked on its green journey over a decade ago believing that it could make a positive contribution towards the environment. He called for the Green Mark to be made mandatory to help propel Singapore to become an eco-hub in the region.
Source : Business Times  - 06 Feb 2008

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Germans remain bullish about Singapore

Germans remain bullish about Singapore

Business community upbeat on growth prospects: survey
By GEOFFREY LEE
THE German business community remains bullish about Singapore as a regional business hub, a survey published yesterday shows.
The survey of businesses varying from small operations to multinationals was conducted by Droege & Comp in December, for the Singaporean-German Chamber of Industry and Commerce.

The companies were asked about growth prospects and about what they saw as the challenges ahead.

Findings show that all participating companies here strongly confirm Singapore’s position as the undisputed hub for Asean markets, affirming that Singapore would be the cornerstone of their future Asia strategy. The republic will continue to attract foreign direct investments from German companies.

Respondents attributed their positive attitude to the competitive advantages of the ‘Singapore package’ of excellent infrastructure, socio-political stability, efficient logistics hub and protection for intellectual property rights, which outweighed the rising costs of doing business here.

There were also several less promising findings. One hot topic was that despite Singapore’s push for R&D, most German companies were reluctant to shift R&D capabilities here.
 
In addition, some medical and healthcare companies were seriously considering neighbouring countries as alternative locations for further investments, particularly Malaysia.

A grouse of all the companies is that despite viewing themselves as attractive employers, they are finding it difficult to recruit and retain skilled personnel.

But even so, a majority of the companies still planned to hire more local people and cut back on their expatriate staff. Calling Singapore the gateway to Asean, Alexander Melchers, vice-president of the chamber, said that Germany is an important trading partner, with bilateral trade valued at more than $20 billion last year. There are 5,600 German people working in Singapore.

Mr Melchers added that Singapore could look forward to better business relations with German companies, especially in the area of environmental engineering and technology such as the clean energy sector where the interests of both countries are ‘perfectly matched’.
Source : Business Times  - 06 Feb 2008

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GIC RE to buy stake in Italian shopping centre - Singapore

GIC RE to buy stake in Italian shopping centre - Singapore

It enters JV with INGReal Estate to acquire Roma Est Shopping Centre
By ARTHUR SIM

GIC Real Estate (RE), the property investment arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation, will take a $416.1 million stake in a shopping centre 14 km from the city centre of Rome.
In a statement released yesterday, GIC RE said it entered into a joint venture with ING Real Estate (part of Dutch ING Group) to acquire the new Roma Est Shopping Centre from Italian food-retailing leader Gruppo PAM.

The transaction is valued at 400 million euros (S$832.3 million) and is said to be the largest single asset transaction in the Italian retail market to date, said GIC RE.

GIC RE and ING RE will take equal stakes in the property.

Roma Est Shopping Centre, one of the largest shopping centres in Italy, has approximately 92,700 sq m (997,813 sq ft) of gross lettable area. It consists of a mall of 208 units, a hypermarket and a 12-screen cinema.

GIC RE president Seek Ngee Huat said: ‘Prime retail assets are rare to come by in Italy, especially one such as Roma Est Shopping Centre. It is a promising new retail asset that provides the key elements of location, operational potential and good management that we look for in investment opportunities.’

ING RE has added the property to the ING Retail Property Partnership Southern Europe (RPPSE) and has been appointed asset manager.
 
RPPSE fund director Maria de Rivera said: ‘We expect retail to continue to perform well in a market that is under-provided. The fund and our client, GIC Real Estate, are very happy with the transaction.’

The RPPSE fund has a target size of 1.2 billion euros to be invested in retail properties in Portugal, Spain and Italy.

ING Real Estate is an integrated real estate group focused on the development, financing and investment management of real estate in all major global markets with a total portfolio of over 100 billion euros.

So far this year, GIC RE has said it will develop a township on a site in Russia with a market value of US$1.33 billion. It was also reported that GIC will pay around $1.02 billion for The Westin Tokyo.
Source : Business Times  - 06 Feb 2008

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Singapore SingPost may sell landmark Paya Lebar HQ

Singapore SingPost may sell landmark Paya Lebar HQ

It’s said to have appointed property consultant to explore its options
By KALPANA RASHIWALA
(SINGAPORE) Singapore Post’s landmark headquarters next to Paya Lebar MRT station may be on the verge of unlocking some riches.
SingPost said it is ‘exploring opportunities’ for Singapore Post Centre, which has about one million sq ft of net lettable area. Valued at $1,000 to $1,300 per square foot of existing net lettable area, this could translate to a total of $1 billion to $1.3 billion, assuming a full-commercial use, analysts estimate. The 14-storey building is on a 352,389 sq ft site with a remaining lease of about 73 years.

In its third quarter results statement last month SingPost said that it is ‘continuing to review its non- core businesses, and is also exploring opportunities in respect of SingPost Centre, including unlocking the value of SingPost Centre’.

When contacted for details, SingPost’s spokeswoman would only say that the group was at the ‘preliminary stage of exploring opportunities in respect of SingPost Centre’ and declined to elaborate.

But industry observers say SingPost held a ‘beauty parade’ late last year to select a property consultant to advise it on exploring its options for the property. The exercise is believed to have culminated in an appointment being made.
 
Market watchers say that among the factors that will determine the price that any potential buyer will be prepared to pay for SingPost Centre is whether SingPost will lease back the space it currently occupies in the building and the rental it is prepared to pay.

SingPost currently occupies about half of the property’s one million sq ft total net lettable area for both its corporate office and operations including the mail processing centre.

The rest of the property is leased to a mix of office and retail tenants including HSBC Insurance, NorthWest Airlines, Symantec Corporation, Prudential (whose lease expires this year), This Fashion, Barang Barang, NTUC FairPrice and Kopitiam.

Although the site is zoned for commercial use with a 4.2 plot ratio (ratio of maximum potential gross floor area to land area) under Master Plan 2003, the current approved use for the site is understood to be 60 per cent industrial and 40 per cent commercial.

SingPost will probably be advised to make an application to convert the approved use to full commercial, to optimise the site’s use under the current Master Plan. This would also be in keeping with the government’s intention, announced last year, to transform the area around Paya Lebar MRT Station into a new business hub.

Some property consultants have since commented that the location will be ideal for cost-conscious office tenants, and could serve as backroom offices for banks, given its proximity to the city.

In exchange for allowing a conversion of the site’s approved use a differential premium will have to be paid to the state.

SingPost Centre’s existing gross floor area of 1.48 million sq ft has already tapped the 4.2 maximum plot ratio allowed under Master Plan 2003.

Property analysts reckon that office and retail space on the SingPost Centre site could be worth around $1,000 to $1,300 psf of net lettable area, with the higher end of this range ascribed to retail space.

SingPost Centre was completed in two phases - the industrial component in July 1998 and the commercial space in May 1999.

The 14-storey building, which also has three basement levels (mostly for retail), has a total of 587 car park lots.

SingPost has been selling some of its smaller properties. For the financial year ended March 31, 2007, it divested two HDB shop units - one at Marine Parade sold for $5.7 million, and the other at Hougang South divested for $2.2 million. The Marine Parade property was the group’s former post office branch; SingPost has since relocated to a nearby leased property. The Hougang property was not used as a post office but was instead leased to a supermarket operator.

In the current financial year, the group has divested its former post office branch at Clementi Central and relocated its operations to another location nearby and sold a property at Boon Lay, which it had leased to a third party.

Several years ago, there had been market speculation that SingPost could spin off its post office properties into a real estate investment trust (and lease back the premises from the Reit). But that does not seem to be the way SingPost is headed currently in optimising its property portfolio. The group is still left with over a dozen properties, including two in the prime districts - Tanglin Post Office and Killiney Road Post Office.

Source : Straits Times  - 06 Feb 2008

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Must I charge GST for work on Singapore residential building project?

Must I charge GST for work on Singapore residential building project? 
REQUIRED PAYMENT: GST is chargeable on all construction services in Singapore, regardless of whether the work is for residential or non-residential properties. — PHOTO: BLOOMBERG NEWS
 
I RUN a GST-registered construction firm. I have some questions on the GST treatments for the various types of supplies in the construction industry.
Do I have to charge goods and services tax (GST) on my construction services for a residential property project?

Yes, you have to charge GST at the prevailing tax rate on all construction services performed in Singapore, regardless of whether the services are for residential or non-residential properties.

However, construction services supplied in connection with land or improvements situated outside Singapore can be zero-rated.
I was awarded a sub-contract to provide both tile and flooring works for a project. However, my main contractor provided the tiles required for the flooring works. Hence, I will charge my main contractor GST on the net amount payable after deducting the value of the tiles. Is this correct?
You are to issue a tax invoice with GST charged to your main contractor for the gross value of your sub-contract work.

The supply of tiles from your main contractor is a separate supply to you, for which the main contractor should issue you a tax invoice for the value of the tiles if he is GST-registered. You may then claim input tax on the GST charged by the main contractor.

Illustration:

The contract sum of sub-contract works for supplying and laying tiles is $15,000. The main contractor supplies tiles of $8,000 in value to the sub-contractor. The sub-contractor bills main contractor for $7,000 (that is, $15,000 less $8,000). Both are GST-registered.

The sub-contractor is to charge GST on $15,000, although he may deduct the value of the tiles in his billing to the main contractor. If the value of sub-contract works is $15,000, GST of 7 per cent comes to $1,050. The amount including GST is $16,050.

Deducting the value of the tiles of $8,000, the net amount payable is $8,050. The sub-contractor’s output tax is $1,050 and the main-contractor’s output tax is $560. The sub-contractor can claim this $560 as his input tax.

Source : Straits Times  - 06 Feb 2008

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St James nears listing on Catalist board, plans to open at IRs - Singapore

St James nears listing on Catalist board, plans to open at IRs  - Singapore

By Joyce Teo, Property Correspondent 
 
THE St James, operator of Singapore’s largest nightspot, St James Power Station, has announced plans to open at the integrated resorts (IRs) - Marina Bay Sands and Resorts World at Sentosa.
‘We believe the Singapore market has not been totally explored in light of rising visitor numbers and the upcoming integrated resorts,’ Mr Dennis Foo, chief executive of St James, said.

He said he had held several meetings with the Resorts World team and was in talks with the Marina Bay Sands team.

‘We will have a presence in the IRs,’ he said. ‘It’s a question of scale.’

St James is close to becoming the first listing on the Singapore Exchange’s (SGX’s) Catalist board, which replaced Sesdaq in December.

Its reverse takeover target firm, JK Technology Group, has secured a sponsor for a transition to the new board, a condition in St James’ $108 million takeover announced in September last year.

With PrimePartners Corporate Finance as a sponsor, St James looks poised to be the first listing on the Catalist board.

JK Tech yesterday submitted a listing undertaking to the SGX and the effective date of transition would be no less than a month from today.

Mr Foo expressed confidence the Catalist listing would give St James quick access to the capital market and allow it to expand its business in Singapore and abroad more aggressively.

A listing will let the company grow through acquisitions and new concepts and tap into the IRs, said Mr Foo.

The initial plan is to focus on Singapore, he said.

The Catalist board, similar to London’s Alternative Investment Market for small, fast-growing firms, does not require companies to meet any financial entry criteria to be listed.

St James is hoping to complete its reverse takeover of JK Tech by the second quarter of the year. After that, JK Tech will be renamed The St James Holdings.
Source : Straits Times  - 06 Feb 2008

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Singapore GIC and ING buy Rome retail centre for $840m

Singapore GIC and ING buy Rome retail centre for $840m 
 
LONDON - ING Real Estate and GIC Real Estate, the property arm of the Government of Singapore Investment Corp, said yesterday that they bought the Roma Est Shopping Centre for 400 million euros (S$840 million).
Each party has bought a 50 per cent stake in the property from Italian food-retailing leader Gruppo PAM, in Italy’s record single-asset retail property deal.

Roma Est Shopping Centre, one of the largest shopping centres in Italy, comprises around 92,700 sq m of gross lettable area. It is about 14km to the east of the capital’s city centre.

The shopping centre consists of a mall with 208 units, a hypermarket and a 12- screen cinema. The centre’s main tenants include both international and Italian brands such as Panorama hypermart, Vis Pathe multiplex cinema, Ovvio Media World, Pellizzari, Piazza Italia, H&M, Apple and Zara.

ING Real Estate has added the property to the ING Retail Property Partnership Southern Europe fund and has been appointed asset manager. The fund has a target size of 1.2 billion euros to be invested in retail properties in Portugal, Spain and Italy.

‘We expect retail to continue to perform well in a market that is underprovided. Roma Est is one of the leading and state-of-the-art shopping centres,’ said the ING fund’s director, Ms Maria de Rivera.

Dr Seek Ngee Huat, president of GIC Real Estate, said: ‘Prime retail assets are rare to come by in Italy, especially one such as Roma Est Shopping Centre. It is a promising new retail asset that provides the key elements of location, operational potential and good management that we look for in investment opportunities.

‘We are confident of its long-term rental growth potential and believe it is an excellent addition to our global portfolio of retail assets.’

GIC Real Estate manages a multibillion-dollar portfolio of direct and indirect property investments, with a presence in over 30 countries.

REUTERS

Source : Straits Times  - 06 Feb 2008

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Sinngapore SingTel not worried over new rules on mobile numbers

Sinngapore SingTel not worried over new rules on mobile numbers 

It has dealt with customers keeping numbers while switching their telcos

By Chua Hian Hou 
FRESH OPTIONS: While SingTel will likely have to spend more on retention and acquisition, number portability would give it an opportunity to attack rivals StarHub and M1’s market share, says Mr Lew. — BT FILE PHOTO
 
SINGTEL is unfazed about a change in mobile phone practice which will allow customers to keep their old number when they change mobile phone providers.
The new practice, called number portability, is expected to come into effect by June.

Traditionally, incumbent operators such as SingTel stand to lose the most from the introduction of number portability.

This is because they have the largest base of long-established customers who may have been reluctant to switch providers as they did not want a new number.

SingTel though, said its chief executive officer for Singapore Allen Lew, is not worried now that these customers can keep the old number - but change telcos.

This is because it is the only phone company in Singapore to have dealt with number portability.

‘We know what number portability is. We know what the incumbent is likely to do and what it needs to do, while StarHub and M1 are facing it for the first time,’ he said.

Mr Lew was the executive in charge of SingTel’s Australian unit Optus’ mobile arm when number portability was introduced there in 2001.

In fact, he is confident number portability would give SingTel an opportunity to ‘attack’ StarHub and M1’s market share - although SingTel will likely have to spend more on retention and acquisition.

M1’s chief executive, Mr Neil Montefiore, also highlighted the same point - higher expenses when number portability is launched - at an earlier M1 event last month.

Mr Lew was speaking at a media conference on SingTel’s third-quarter results yesterday.

The company reported a 4.2 dip in net profits for its third quarter ended Dec 31 to $952 million, compared to the same period a year earlier.

This, though, was because that earlier period enjoyed exceptional gains - its underlying net profit, at $931 million, was actually up 21.7 per cent from the same period the year before.

Revenues were up 11.4 per cent to $3.8 billion, with underlying earnings per share of 5.86 cents, up from 4.82 cents.

Singapore’s largest listed company, said group chief executive Chua Sock Koong, has ‘a strong balance sheet with significant flexibility for further investment’.

The current market turmoil has resulted in ‘more realistic’ valuations, and SingTel is continuing to suss out opportunities to buy stakes in Asian telcos.

The company also gave an update on its expansion plans in Ghana and Vietnam. SingTel has, said Ms Chua, ‘decided not to proceed in Ghana’ where it had reportedly been keen on a majority stake in Ghana Telecom.

Meanwhile, its proposed purchase of a stake in a Vietnamese mobile firm is being evaluated by the country’s government.

SingTel has spent over $18 billion acquiring stakes in regional companies. These stakes have paid off handsomely, and today contribute about three-quarters of SingTel’s revenues.
Source : Straits Times  - 06 Feb 2008

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Bulk of Singapore CPF insurance sales could drop as much as 40%

Bulk of Singapore CPF insurance sales could drop as much as 40% 

Single-premium products likely to be hit hard when new rules take effect

By Gabriel Chen 
SMALLER POOL: CPF funds available for investments are expected to plunge by about 50 per cent come April, says Mr O’Dell. — PHOTO: MARK O DELL
 
THE insurance industry is bracing itself for a dramatic fall of up to 40 per cent in sales of all-important single-premium products - which require an initial lump sum payment.
This will cost insurers in Singapore many millions of dollars in sales of single-premium products which overwhelmingly dominate the industry.

The reason? New rules on investing Central Provident Fund (CPF) money which take effect on April 1 will cut the sum available for private investments under the CPF Investment Scheme (CPFIS). The CPF has been a crucial market for these single-premium products - such as endowment policies and investment-linked policies (ILPs).

The CPF sector accounted for 62 per cent or $5.47 billion of single-premium sales last year, similar to that in 2006.

CPF single-premium sales rose from $1.2 billion in the third quarter to $1.5 billion in the fourth quarter of last year.

Mr Mark O’Dell, president of the Life Insurance Association (LIA), said yesterday that come April 1, CPF funds available for investments are expected to plunge by about 50 per cent.
This would hit the industry hard, as overall single-premium business sales could fall by 30 to 40 per cent, he said at a press conference yesterday.

Insurers will have to find non-CPF buyers, such as consumers using their own savings, to drive sales in future. They might also have to introduce various products that give ‘better returns’ hopefully to attract more funding.

Under the new rules, which take effect on April 1, a CPF member will not be allowed to invest the first $20,000 of both his CPF Ordinary and Special Accounts savings under the CPFIS.

Mr O’Dell told The Straits Times that LIA has been asking the Government to allow money in Special Accounts to be invested in CPFIS products - but there has not been much progress yet.

Money already invested through the CPFIS will not be affected by the new rule, but there could be a rush to investment money in these instruments before the April 1 deadline.

‘I won’t be surprised at this stage that agents would be taking opportunity to talk to clients to invest before the funds are locked up,’ said Mr Mohamed Salim, chief executive of First Principal Financial.

He said the new rules could affect the likes of AIA, Prudential, NTUC Income and Great Eastern Life more, as they tend to be ‘much more dependent’ on CPF single-premium sales.

Some financial advisers say that ILPs for instance provide opportunities for higher returns versus rates offered under the CPF investment scheme.

‘Of course there are good and bad advisers,’ said Mr Edmund Wee, a full-time financial consultant with Income. ‘At the end of the day, I don’t think just because there’s this rule, I would tell my client to invest sooner. The money belongs to the client and we should give proper advice.’

Mr O’Dell said that he is not ruling out a surge in sales this month and next, ahead of the rule change, though he noted that nobody he is talking to now is ’seeing a big surge’ yet.

 A one-time investment
SINGLE-PREMIUM products refer to insurance policies requiring one initial lump-sum payment.

This is unlike regular-premium policies, where policyholders pay at regular intervals for a minimum stipulated period.

Central Provident Fund (CPF) savings cannot be used to buy regular-premium products.

The sales of single-premium products are mainly investment- linked products (ILPs), which provide insurance cover as well as some exposure to the stock market.

An example of a single-premium ILP is NTUC FlexiLink, said Mr Edmund Wee, a full-time financial consultant with Income.

ILPs - they can also be regular- premium ones - are like unit trusts, except that they are sold by insurance companies.

ILPs also have the added feature of life insurance cover.

The life insurance industry is driven by single-premium and regular-premium businesses, with single-premium sales dwarfing regular-premium sales enormously.

For example, the fourth quarter of last year saw single-premium sales soar 37 per cent to $2.61 billion, with regular-premium sales up 39 per cent at $271 million.

For the whole of last year, single- premium sales chalked up $8.86 billion, a robust 34 per cent growth over 2006. Regular-premium sales totalled $821 million, up 28 per cent.

The CPF sector is important to single-premium sales, as it accounts for over half of overall single- premium sales for the industry.

The CPF sector accounted for 62 per cent or $5.47 billion of single- premium sales last year.

GABRIEL CHEN
Source : Straits Times  - 06 Feb 2008

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Maid arrested after video shows her abusing baby - Singapore

Maid arrested after video shows her abusing baby  - Singapore

By Carolyn Quek 
SHOCKING ACTS CAUGHT ON TAPE: These screen grabs from YouTube show the maid hitting and kicking the two-month-old baby boy.
 
POLICE have arrested a 24-year-old maid who was caught hitting her employers’ baby on video last month.
The baby’s parents installed a closed-circuit TV in the living room of the child’s grandmother’s home on Jan 24 to keep an eye on their maid.

It did not prepare them for what they saw while reviewing the very first recording just two days later: Their maid of three months, whom they had thought of as someone caring and gentle towards the two-month-old boy, was shown hitting and kicking the baby.

Enraged, the parents called the police, and also posted six videos on popular video-sharing website YouTube.

The clips had pulled in 82,699 views as of last evening. Netizens had also posted angry comments.

The baby was taken to the doctor, but no injuries were found. He is now in his grandmother’s care.

The maid has been released on bail after questioning by the police and is staying at a shelter run by the Indonesian Embassy.

An embassy spokesman confirmed the incident and disclosed that the maid from East Java had been working here for six months.

The baby’s mother declined to be named, but told The Straits Times yesterday that the maid was not new to the job, having worked previously for another family here.

An IT administrator in her 30s, she said she had asked the maid agency for someone with experience handling a baby as the maid’s main task would be to help her mother look after the infant, her second child.

Her first child is two years old.

She was shocked when she viewed the video and saw the difference between the maid’s behaviour in front of the family and behind their backs.

Her mother was not home the day the video was recorded and it was not the first time the maid was left unsupervised.

In the clips lasting less than five minutes each, the maid is seen hitting the baby and kicking him as he lay in a cloth cradle suspended from the ceiling.

In one instance, the cradle was swung so hard it almost hit a dining table nearby.

The baby’s mother said: ‘How could anyone hit a child like that? She always behaved very normally, like how you would towards a child, so we did not expect this.’

She added that she would not be getting another maid in the short term.

She said she posted the videos on YouTube last Thursday to warn other parents who leave their children with their maids.

Lawyer Chandra Mohan Nair said that there was nothing legally wrong in posting such clips online, but doing so could compromise police investigations if the maid is eventually charged in court.

Source : Straits Times  - 06 Feb 2008

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Singapore PM confident of another good year for Singapore

Singapore PM confident of another good year for Singapore 

Country in strong position to face uncertainties, he says in his CNY message

By Lydia Lim 
FESTIVITIES BEGIN: Giant illuminated rats greet visitors to the River Hongbao festival at the Esplanade Park. The event kicked off yesterday and ends next Saturday, It will feature displays of the 12 animals of the Chinese zodiac and cultural performances. There will also be firework displays at midnight today, and at 9.30pm tomorrow and on Friday. — ST PHOTO: DESMOND WEE
 
THE new Chinese Year of the Rat begins tomorrow under more uncertain and challenging circumstances than the Year of the Pig, the Prime Minister said yesterday.
But Mr Lee Hsien Loong assured Singaporeans, in his traditional message to mark the occasion, that the country is ‘in a strong position to weather any storm’.

‘In the Chinese zodiac,’ he said, ‘the Rat symbolises wit, imagination and resourcefulness. Let us harness our creativity and ingenuity to tackle the challenges that lie ahead.

‘Then despite the difficulties that come our way, we can all look forward to another good year for Singapore and for ourselves.’

Mr Lee recapped the economy’s sterling progress last year, when it powered ahead to its fourth consecutive year of robust growth and created a record 237,000 jobs.

However, the external environment has changed, with turbulence in the global financial markets and a slowdown in the United States economy.

There is therefore a need to ‘gird ourselves for further uncertainties ahead’, but he also urged continued confidence as Singapore is in a strong position to tackle challenges.

In the face of public concern over rising food prices, Mr Lee reiterated that the Government has the resources to help ease the burden on the poor and elderly.

The Budget statement on Feb 15 is expected to include measures to do so.

But he also stressed that the Government cannot provide subsidies for basics such as rice and cooking oil as these will lead to ‘artificial shortages, queues and a black market’.

This is the second time in three days Mr Lee has spoken on the cost-of-living issue.

He again noted that rising costs are due to soaring food and fuel prices worldwide, trends Singapore as a small, open economy cannot escape.

He pointed out the ways in which the Government has directly helped those in need, through programmes like the Workfare Income Supplement Scheme, which made its payout last month. About $150 million was given to 290,000 low-income workers.

Mr Lee also dwelt on the importance of family ties, the Chinese New Year traditionally being a time for reunion dinners and visits to relatives.

Building on the 2004 pro-family measures, he said the Government is studying practical matters to see how it can create an even friendlier environment for having and raising children. They include childcare facilities, flexible work options and parental leave.

The Prime Minister ended his message by wishing all Singaporeans a happy and prosperous Chinese New Year.

Source : Straits Times  - 06 Feb 2008

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