Top-end hotel opens on Sentosa

Top-end hotel opens on Sentosa

Guests have to pay $750 for a night’s stay in a standard room, which is almost twice the size on an average hotel room in Singapore.

THE ultra-luxurious Capella Singapore on Sentosa opened its doors yesterday.
With room rates starting at $750 a night, it is the only top-end hotel to open here this year.

Despite the poor economic conditions and global paring down of travel budgets, the hotel’s general manager, Mr Michael Luible, expressed optimism that it would do well because it was a ‘unique product’.

He said the hotel would run on the philosophy that whatever guests want, they will get. For example, they can check in whenever they want.

This week, the Capella will be where British carmaker Rolls-Royce launches its new model 200EX; fashion house Gucci will also flaunt its spring collection there.

The 111-room hotel sits on a site more than 12ha in size. It has 61 ’standard’ rooms and 11 suites, and each of its 38 villas has its own swimming pool.

A standard room, at $750 a night, is 77 sq m in size - almost twice the size of an average 40 sq m hotel room here.

The private villas, starting at about $1,800, offer at least 133 sq m of space.

The property is the first for the luxury brand in Asia and will be its flagship in the region, said Mr Horst Schulze, the chairman and chief executive officer of the West Paces Hotel Group, the parent company for the chain.

Deputy Prime Minister S. Jayakumar was the guest of honour at the opening of the hotel, which departed from the practice of having a soft opening ahead of its official debut.

To mark its opening, the hotel is offering guests who are staying two nights an extra night free. This deal is available till the end of May.

LIM WEI CHEAN

Source : Straits Times - 31 Mar 2009

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G-20 targets return to growth in 2010

‘G-20 targets return to growth in 2010′

Steps taken will create 20 million jobs globally, says draft cited by FT

LONDON: The leaders of the world’s biggest economies hope to restore global growth by the end of 2010, the Financial Times has reported, quoting a draft communique for a summit this week.
US President Barack Obama told the newspaper on Sunday he saw signs that the slump was stabilising.

Stimulus measures already taken will raise global output by more than 2 percentage points and create more than 20 million jobs worldwide, the FT said, quoting from the draft ahead of the summit of G-20 leaders in London on Thursday.

As well as higher spending, leaders are pinning their hopes on steps to save their banks and more money for the International Monetary Fund to stem the worst global economic crisis since the 1930s.

The Group of 20 leaders will discuss ways of fighting the crisis, including new, tighter rules for financial institutions aimed at preventing a repeat of the credit crisis and help for international trade.

The draft appears to contain no specific numbers on more government stimulus measures aimed at boosting demand, an area of disagreement between the US and some European countries which favour more emphasis on regulatory reform.

The US has pressed for more effort from other countries but mainland Europe says it has done enough for now.

Mr Obama told the FT that G-20 countries would ‘do what is necessary to promote trade and growth’ and he played down talk of a transatlantic rift.

‘The most important task for all of us is to deliver a strong message of unity in the face of the crisis,’ Mr Obama told the newspaper in the interview published on the FT’s website.

The US President said he saw ‘glimmers of stabilisation’ including signs that the US housing market - the source of the global slump - was stabilising.

With governments worldwide setting aside trillions of dollars to save their banks and boost their economies, Mr Obama conceded public opinion in the United States and elsewhere might make it hard to come up with further measures.

But it was also important ‘that we are prepared to step into the breach should current efforts prove to be inadequate’.

British Finance Minister Alistair Darling said countries would not be asked to reveal their spending plans at the summit but they should realise boosting demand will play a key role in any recovery.

‘We are not saying that everybody has got to do the same thing, at the same time, on the same day,’ he told the BBC. ‘We do need to…make sure we have a commitment for countries to act together, to do what is appropriate in their countries. By acting together in that way, the effect is so much better.’

The credit crisis is still claiming victims in the financial sector and beyond.

Spain’s central bank will bail out regional savings bank Caja Castilla la Mancha, the government said on Sunday, as a slumping property market forced the first banking rescue in the country since the financial crisis began..

Scotland’s biggest building society, Dunfermline, is to be sold after the government refused to rescue the lender.

The 24-point draft in the FT set out action to be taken on hedge funds, bankers’ pay, tax havens, currency valuation and banks’ capital reserves.

‘We are determined to restore growth now, resist protectionism and reform our markets and institutions for the future,’ the draft said, according to the FT.

‘We are determined to ensure that this crisis is not repeated.’

Hedge funds will be overseen by a stronger Financial Stability Forum, expanded to include all G-20 states and renamed the Financial Stability Board.

Tax havens will be named at the summit and they will be subject to unspecified sanctions, the draft added.

REUTERS

Source : Straits Times - 31 Mar 2009

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How will the PAP fare in a long recession?

How will the PAP fare in a long recession?

Voters could rally round the party or vent their feelings at the ballot box

By Chua Mui Hoong, Senior Writer

SINGAPORE may have six bad years ahead. So says Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew.
How will the ruling People’s Action Party fare in such a scenario?

Mr Lee did not go into the political implications, but a look at Singapore’s recent history throws up interesting thoughts on how Singaporean voters may respond to the PAP in a long recession.

Mr Lee said last week that in a worst-case scenario, Singapore may see four to six years of recession, as the global financial crisis slows the world economy.

Singapore’s past experience with recessions never lasted longer than the four quarters in 1997/1998 and in 2001/2002.

Forecasts this time suggest a deeper, and longer recession. Even an optimistic scenario would see Singapore make a turnaround in two to three years, said Mr Lee.

Since ruling Singapore from self-government in June 1959, the PAP has consistently delivered the economic goods. Indeed, its legitimacy rests in part on its ability to create wealth for the masses.

Will voters’ support be withdrawn if the recession lasts several years?

This time round, elections have to be held by 2011. They are likely to be held sooner than that, since the PAP would want to leave room for manoeuvre to avoid being caught by an unexpectedly sharp nosedive in the economy too close to the end of its electoral term, and being forced to hold elections in such circumstances.

If elections are held in 2010, and if the downturn stretches five or six years into 2015, the PAP would have presided over one full term of dismal growth.

How will the PAP fare?

One school of thought is that Singaporeans rally round the PAP in a crisis.

The 2001 General Election, which saw the PAP claw back 10 percentage points in vote share to win 75 per cent - a level not seen since 1980 - is often cited as evidence of that theory.

But the November 2001 election was held amid a security crisis (in the wake of the Sept 11 terrorist attacks in America), not an economic one. In a security crisis, especially when the threat is external, citizens will tend to rally round the state, viewing it as a protector or regulator.

In an economic crisis, however, the government is the manager - and ultimately held accountable by Singaporeans for the performance of the economy.

Even if the economic crisis is largely externally driven as this one is, and even if the PAP Government continues its policy of providing generous wage and training subsidies, citizens will at some juncture start to point the finger at the manager should the economy continue to slide.

Already, some economists and commentators are questioning the sustainability of Singapore’s (and Asia’s) exports-driven, multinational corporation-reliant economic model.

Some are also questioning - as though there were any real alternative - the wisdom of having an open, highly globalised economy, which leaves it vulnerable to external financial and economic shocks.

Two or three years of recession will erode popular support significantly. If the downturn lasts longer, the worm may turn decisively against the PAP.

No general election has been held amid a recession, except in 2001. That year, the economy saw a year-on-year decline in the second and third quarters. When the election was held in November, the PAP’s vote share soared 10 per cent. This might suggest a flight to quality - that voters support the trusted PAP in a recession.

But the opposite case can be made too. Apart from 2001, the other general election that saw a large vote swing was in 1984, when the PAP’s share went down 12.6 per cent from 1980.

Yet there was high growth from 1980 to 1984. Even in 1984, the economy grew 10.1 per cent, 9.2 per cent and 8 per cent respectively in the first three quarters, before the December election.

In 1984, falling support in the face of robust growth was attributed to political factors, including unhappiness over government policies.

At a macro level, the PAP’s vote share has fallen over the decades even as per capita income has risen, consistent with the conventional theory that a more educated and wealthier electorate favours more political competition.

The brief survey of past general elections above serves merely to highlight that whatever little empirical evidence exists, does not lend itself to easy interpretation on how Singaporeans will respond to the PAP when GDP growth rates fall.

Political common sense, however, may shed more light. Incomes at the bottom 30 per cent are already stagnating. If the recession lasts for years, median incomes are likely to fall. Then, the median voter, who would normally hold back in the absence of a credible alternative, may vote opposition out of frustration.

Younger voters may vote against the PAP, punishing it for an anaemic economy that is failing to deliver the good jobs they were brought up to expect, and expressing their anger that it wants to dominate the political scene and, in their view, still suppresses political opposition.

These two groups’ uncoordinated voting behaviour taken in tandem could slice the PAP margin razor-thin, or even swing the balance against it.

It may seem far-fetched today, given the PAP’s entrenched position, to contemplate a weakened PAP unable to count on strong electoral support.

The PAP is a high-functioning and savvy political organisation, with its octopus digits on the pulse of every segment of Singapore. It is also responsive to the needs of a changing electorate.

Certainly the PAP Government will not stand idly by to see its popular support eroded by a long recession. Indeed, its actions so far - swift, generous spending to save jobs and provide highly-subsidised training opportunities - have won it much goodwill on the ground.

But as dean of the Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy Kishore Mahbubani argued in a thought-provoking article in The Straits Times last Wednesday, contemplating the prospect of failure is one way to stave off failure.

That the PAP may lose the popular vote in a prolonged recession, is a failure it - and Singapore - must contemplate.

Source : Straits Times - 31 Mar 2009

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Cabinet changes: A transition team balancing young and old

Cabinet changes: A transition team balancing young and old

Next election crucial for future well-being of Singapore, says PM Lee

By Sue-Ann Chia, Senior Political Correspondent

THE Cabinet changes announced last week bring in a ‘transition team’ that signals that a younger team is in charge, but with old hands still on deck to steer Singapore forward.
The mid-term reshuffle is based on current office-holders and MPs, said Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong, who indicated that the core of Singapore’s fourth generation leadership has yet to be fully assembled.

Explaining Singapore’s style of incremental rather than big bang changes, he told reporters at the Istana yesterday: ‘This reshuffle is another step forward in the long process of self-renewal. It’s a continuing exercise.

‘Each step is careful, measured, but cumulatively and progressively over the years, the effect is of a substantial decisive change.’

In the five years since he became Prime Minister, three ministers have retired and six have joined the Cabinet.

The veterans who stepped down are: former deputy prime minister Tony Tan in September 2005, former transport minister Yeo Cheow Tong in May 2006, and Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts (Mica) Lee Boon Yang, who will retire tomorrow.

The younger leaders in Cabinet are: Minister for Community Development, Youth and Sports Vivian Balakrishnan; Transport Minister Raymond Lim; Law and Second Home Affairs Minister K. Shanmugam; Manpower Minister Gan Kim Yong; Minister in the Prime Minister’s Office Lim Hwee Hua; and Acting Minister for Information, Communications and the Arts Lui Tuck Yew.

The last three move up to their posts tomorrow.

‘What we need to convey in this reshuffle is that we’ve reinforced and renewed the team, and we’re moving ahead,’ said PM Lee.

He said his appointment of Mr Teo Chee Hean as Deputy Prime Minister and Acting PM in his absence ’signals that a younger team is in charge’.

Mr Teo, 54, replaces Professor S. Jayakumar, 69, who becomes a Senior Minister tomorrow. The other DPM is Home Affairs Minister Wong Kan Seng, 62.

The reshuffle, the second since the 2006 General Election, does not change the total number of office holders.

‘It’s a transition team. The new ministers are in position but I’m keeping some of the older ministers on to help out, people like Prof Jayakumar and Lim Boon Heng,’ said Mr Lee.

Of the 21 full or acting ministers, 10 were elected in the last three General Elections - in 1997, 2001, and 2006. This balances younger ministers with the ‘energy and fresh ideas and approaches’, and older ones with ‘experience and advice to give, especially in this crisis’.

Mr Lee said he knew that Singaporeans and foreign investors were keen to know who would form the fourth generation leadership.

An American investor put the question to him recently. ‘He didn’t beat around the bush,’ Mr Lee said. ‘He wanted to know if his investments would be safe here for the next 20, 30 years. Who will be in charge?

‘I gave him a frank answer. I said: ‘This is work in progress. We have brought in younger people, they have potential. We are continuing to reinforce the team. That is one of the top priorities looking ahead for the next election.’

‘So we need people in their late 30s and early 40s, who can be put into responsible positions early, while the older ones are still there to watch over them.

‘Then within two election terms they can prove their worth, establish themselves with Singaporeans, and be ready to take over,’ he said.

This is why the next general election will be crucial for the future well-being of Singapore, he stressed.

Could there be a by-election to bring in new faces? He laughed before replying: ‘We never say never.’

My health is okay, says PM
PRIME Minister Lee Hsien Loong has lost weight - because his doctor ordered it.
The Straits Times asked him about his health yesterday during a press conference on the Cabinet changes announced last week.

His reply: ‘My health is okay. I’ve lost weight because my doctor ordered me to lose weight.’

He also quipped that Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan’s recent remarks that trimmer is better have put more pressure on him to shed the kilogrammes.

He revealed later that he was ‘above the optimal BMI’. A person’s Body Mass Index (BMI) is derived from dividing his weight (in kg) by the square of his height (in metres).

He did not say how much weight he has lost, but assured Singaporeans that he is in good health.

‘I have a medical check-up every year. Doctors scrutinise me, pursue all possible avenues (as to) what may be wrong. So far, I’m okay,’ he said.

‘But life is unpredictable. So you just have to take good care and take it as it comes.’

Such unpredictability only reinforces the need to strengthen Singapore’s political leadership, he said, adding: ‘At the same time, make sure that there’s depth in the team so that the whole team doesn’t just depend on one person.’

SUE-ANN CHIA

Source : Straits Times - 31 Mar 2009

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PM Lee says Cabinet reshuffle another step in self-renewal process

PM Lee says Cabinet reshuffle another step in self-renewal process

SINGAPORE: Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong has described his recent Cabinet reshuffle as another step in the long process of self-renewal.

Although Mr Lee said the next general election, which has to take place by February 2012, is not near, Singaporeans and investors want to see the next team of political leaders.

Referring to the 2006 general election as a major step in self-renewal, Mr Lee said Singapore has not fully assembled the core of fourth generation leadership, and the critical task now is to identify, gather and prepare more people for leadership positions to assure Singapore’s long-term future.

Mr Lee added that there is no change to the total number of office holders in this reshuffle.

However, the prime minister said he is keeping some of the older ministers to help out so that while there is a balance of energy and fresh ideas from younger ministers, the older ones can provide experience and advice, especially during this period of economic crisis.

Mr Lee, who was speaking to reporters at the Istana on Monday morning, was also asked about the renewal process for Malay leadership.

He said even though no Malay MP was promoted this time, there is a good line-up of Malay office holders and backbenchers. In due course, if they perform well and measure up, they will be promoted.

Mr Lee also said that he would continue to work hard to look for Malay professionals to enter politics.

“We know that there are more Malay professionals now… we were able to bring some of them in during the last election. I think that the Malay community, like the general Singapore community, has the same issue when young people come in.

“On the one hand, they want to see talent, on the other hand, you look at him or her, and you say is he or she ready? I’m personally focusing on this. It’s not just a matter for Malay MPs or Malay ministers to look for new succession, I’m pursuing this matter too,” he said.

- CNA/yb/so

Source : Channel NewsAsia - 30 Mar 2009

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Changes to help patients cope with health-care bills

Changes to help patients cope with health-care bills

Medisave can be used for treatment abroad; home care for the terminally ill

CHANGES to help patients cope with medical bills are on the way, including a radical one to allow them to dip into their Medisave to care for the terminally ill at home.
Singaporeans prefer to live out their last days in the company of loved ones, but most do not do so, ending their lives in a hospital or a hospice, noted Health Minister Khaw Boon Wan yesterday.

‘So what is missing is home palliative care,’ he told reporters at the sidelines of his visit to Paya Lebar constituency.

Medisave can now be used to pay for stays in hospices, up to $160 a day. Although details are still being worked out, this would be the first time the CPF-based medical savings scheme will be used for treatment at home.

Another proposal that has got the green light: Medisave can also be used abroad, to pay for hospital treatment or day surgery.

This request, first mooted by a unionist at a dialogue last year, found much favour among members of the public, who wanted the right to choose where they received treatment.

To guard against fraudulent claims, some conditions will be attached. The claims can only be made through a Singapore hospital which must have an ‘approved working arrangement’ with the overseas hospital.

Medisave has traditionally been used to pay for hospitalisation bills here. From June, the withdrawal limits of $150 to $5,000 will be raised to $250 to $7,550, a move that will benefit patients in classes A and B1, and those in private hospitals.

In recent years, Medisave coverage has also been extended to patients with chronic ailments, such as diabetes and asthma, who are treated as outpatients. From October, mentally-ill patients will be able to tap on Medisave too, to pay for treatment for schizophrenia and major depression.

The liberalisation of Medisave use was welcomed by doctors and Members of Parliament, though Dr Fatimah Lateef, an MP for Marine Parade GRC, cautioned against excessive liberalisation as it would ‘get too much out of hand’.

Both she and Madam Halimah Yacob, who chairs the Government Parliamentary Committee for Health, welcomed the use of Medisave for home palliative care.

It is a step in the right direction, given Singapore’s ageing population, said Dr Fatimah. Madam Halimah described the proposed new use as ’significant’, as it shifts the focus to dying at home and not in hospital.

Yesterday, in answer to a question at a dialogue with residents at the Paya Lebar Kovan Community Club, Mr Khaw raised the possibility of having Medisave pay for nursing home stays. But this will mean higher contributions.

Referring to the cut in employer contribution to CPF in 2003, Mr Khaw said: ‘At some stage, we will want to restore the CPF contribution rate. At that time, I will make a strong case for funds to (go into Medisave so it can) be used for nursing homes.’

He also had good news for patients in community hospitals, another segment of step-down care. The subsidy system will change so that there will not be the big, 25 percentage point difference in subsidy from one income level to the next.

During the hour-long dialogue, he was also asked about an issue that had dogged him in recent months: sending the elderly to nursing homes in Johor.

No, he never told people to send their parents to Johor. What he did was to point out that nursing homes in Johor charge less, and are an option for those who do not qualify for subsidies.

He asked the crowd if they approved extending Medisave for treatment overseas, and received enthusiastic applause.

But silence followed when he asked if Medisave should be allowed for use in nursing homes overseas.

If this is allowed in the future, he said to general laughter, people will again say: ‘Khaw Boon Wan says to dump our parents in Johor.’

Source : Straits Times - 30 Mar 2009

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Obama faces defiance on first foreign trip

Obama faces defiance on first foreign trip

Economic woes at home embolden allies, adversaries to challenge US power

(WASHINGTON) President Barack Obama is facing challenges to American power on multiple fronts as he prepares for his first trip overseas since taking office, with the nation’s economic woes emboldening allies and adversaries alike.

Despite his immense popularity around the world, Mr Obama will confront resentment over American-style capitalism and resistance to his economic prescriptions when he lands in London tomorrow for the Group of 20 summit meeting of industrial and emerging market nations plus the European Union.

He will not even try to overcome Nato’s unwillingness to provide more troops in Afghanistan when he goes on later in the week to meet with the military alliance.

And he will be tested in face-to-face meetings by the leaders of China and Russia, who have been pondering the degree to which the power of the US to dominate global affairs may be ebbing.

Mr Obama is unlikely to push for specific commitments from other countries on stimulus spending to bolster their own economies, White House officials acknowledged on Saturday in a teleconference call, despite the fact that administration officials would like to see European countries, in particular, increase their spending to try to prompt a global economic recovery.

‘Nobody is asking any country to come to London to commit to do more right now,’ said Michael Froman, deputy national security adviser for international economic affairs. Instead, world leaders at the meeting will try to ‘do whatever is necessary to restore global growth,’ he said.

The challenges stem in part from lingering unhappiness around the world at the way the Bush administration used American power. But they have been made more intense by the sense in many capitals that the US is no longer in any position to dictate to other nations what types of economic policies to pursue - or to impose its will more generally as it intensifies the war in Afghanistan and extracts itself from Iraq.

‘There is a direct challenge under way to the paradigms that America has been trying to sell to the rest of the world,’ said Eswar S Prasad, a former China division chief at the International Monetary Fund.

The US banking collapse has led to a fundamental rethinking of the American way as a model for the rest of the world. Yet even as his presence stirs opposition to particular US policies, Mr Obama is being welcomed by many Europeans as an embodiment of American ideals.

In Prague, where Mr Obama will stop later in the week, local officials are installing a hot line for residents to find out about street closings. In Strasbourg, France, the site of a Nato meeting, protesters are planning an ‘international resistance camp’ with anti-war actions designed to press Mr Obama to get US troops out of Afghanistan. In Istanbul, his last stop, workers are polishing up the Hagia Sophia basilica-cum-mosque-cum- museum for the expected visit.

‘The rest of the world is yearning for him,’ said Kenneth Rogoff, a Harvard economist. ‘On the one hand, they’ll all be criticising him, and criticising the American model. But they all want to hear that he does have a miracle to deliver.’ - AP

Source : Business Times - 30 Mar 2009

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New York to raise US$4b by taxing the rich more

New York to raise US$4b by taxing the rich more

(NEW YORK) Governor David Paterson and leaders of the legislature have reached a deal to temporarily raise taxes on New York’s highest earners to close the state’s budget deficit, lawmakers and officials said on Saturday.

The new plan, which would expire after three years, would represent the largest income tax increase in recent state history, significantly larger than the surcharges imposed from 2003 to 2005, when the state last faced a major recession.

The plan would raise US$4 billion a year by creating two new tax brackets, the highest one affecting those who earn US$500,000 or more.

If approved by rank-and-file lawmakers in the Assembly and state Senate, the tax increases would be a major victory for unions and liberal advocacy groups and a signal of the new balance of power in Albany, where Democrats won control of both houses of the legislature and the governor’s office in last year’s election.

Officials said that Mr Paterson, who has argued for months that new income taxes should be a last resort for balancing the budget, accepted the plan after winning significant spending cuts in areas like healthcare and education.

Since proposing his budget in December, projected tax revenues for the fiscal year beginning April 1 have dropped by US$3.2 billion, while rising Medicaid caseloads will cost US$750 million more than originally projected for this year and next year.

Under the plan, the highest bracket would start at US$500,000 with a tax rate of 8.97 per cent - the same as New Jersey’s current highest rate. A lower rate of 7.85 per cent would apply to incomes over US$300,000.

Currently, New York’s highest tax rate, 6.85 per cent, kicks in for couples and joint filers making more than US$40,000. — NYT

Source : Business Times - 30 Mar 2009

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Mortgage payments worry S’poreans; expats fret over pay

Mortgage payments worry S’poreans; expats fret over pay

By SIOW LI SEN

A MAJORITY of Singaporeans worry about their ability to pay their mortgages while expats are fretting over smaller incomes, a survey by Zurich International Life (ZIL) showed.

‘I wonder about the result if the survey is done now,’ said Andy Robinson, ZIL Asia regional director in a recent BT interview. Singapore is experiencing its worst downturn ever with some forecasting that the economy could shrink as much as 8-10 per cent this year.

Seventy per cent of Singaporeans in the November survey were confident in their ability to save adequately while 60 per cent worry about their ability to pay mortgages. Mr Robinson thinks the Central Provident Fund mandatory contributions accounts for the optimism on savings while job security anxieties are keeping Singaporeans awake over their mortgages.

The survey which involved 212 Singaporeans and expatriates with a minimum monthly income of $4,000 revealed a general low level of confidence in economic recovery. Ninety per cent of expatriates are making changes in the allocation of their wealth, with more going to savings. Eighty two per cent of expatriates report a reduction in disposable income which warranted 62 per cent feeling the need for a change in their lifestyle.

‘Part of that is buying less property,’ said Mr Robinson referring to the changes in allocation of wealth by expatriates. Foreigners had been big buyers of high-end properties in the past five years. And over the past five years, more and more expatriates have increasingly switched to local terms from expensive expatriate packages, he added.

The survey also showed that priority of saving or investing remains at the top of the list of those asked. ZIL prepares two research reports a year asking Singaporeans and expatriates about their attitudes to financial planning and the correlation between their financial and lifestyle behaviour.

ZIL which began business here four years ago selling investment-linked products has seen an increase in policyholders surrendering their policies, said Mr Robinson.

Part of the Zurich group, ZIL offers life insurance and investment products to affluent customers and expatriates.

To date ZIL has 4,000 policyholders, of which about 1,800 are Singaporeans. In 2008, annualised premiums reached US$71.2 million and he expects sales to be flat this year.

‘Clearly we are seeing lower levels of business now compared to third quarter 2008,’ he said.

For customers who want to surrender their policies because they have lost their jobs or they want to cut losses, ZIL does offer some alternatives such as a premium holiday, he said.

Minimum premiums of ZIL investment-linked products are $425 a month.

ZIL operates in Singapore as a branch of the Zurich Financial Services Group, an insurance-based financial services provider. Headquartered in Zurich, the group employs about 60,000 people and has customers in 170 countries.

Source : Business Times - 30 Mar 2009

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G-20 urged to push for stricter oversight of finance

G-20 urged to push for stricter oversight of finance

(VINA DEL MAR, Chile) Britain’s prime minister and the president of Latin America’s largest nation made energetic appeals for stricter oversight of the global financial systems, at a warm-up to the Group of 20 (G-20) meeting in London this week.

Ensnared: Demonstrators in Barcelona last Saturday protesting against the upcoming G-20 summit in London on Thursday. Protesters in European cities were demanding jobs, economic justice and environmental responsibility.
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva said last Saturday that a lack of controls has turned the world economy ‘into a gigantic casino’.

‘The eyes of the word are set on us,’ said Mr Silva, who will participate in the G-20 summit that starts on Thursday. ‘In the end, we reject the blind faith in the market.’

But US Vice-President Joe Biden urged caution in increasing controls, during a news conference closing the Progressive Governance Summit at a coastal resort in central Chile.

‘We should not overreact,’ Mr Biden said. ‘A free market still needs to be able to function.’

Leaders from Latin America, Europe and the US exchanged views during a four-hour round-table marked by repeated demands for controls on world financial markets and reforms of international financial institutions.

Meanwhile, thousands of people marched through European cities last Saturday to demand jobs, economic justice and environmental accountability.

Visiting Chile, British Prime Minister Gordon Brown said the markets cannot self-regulate, ‘and we have to be very clear: the banks cannot be without supervision’.

He said such supervision should work across the borders because banks work around the world.

Mr Brown has announced that he will urge the world’s top economies at the G-20 meeting to create a US$100 billion fund to stimulate global trade.

Mr Biden stressed what he called the ‘deep commitment’ of the administration of President Barack Obama to cooperate with other countries in efforts to face the world economic crisis. He said the US government is working aggressively to solve its own problems, ‘but we are also thinking globally’. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet, host of the summit, said the leaders agreed to combat protectionism. ‘We agreed on putting people first, to avoid the economic recession turning into a social recession,’ she said.

Also attending last Saturday’s summit was Spanish Prime Minister Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero; Argentine President Cristina Fernandez; Uruguayan President Tabare Vazquez; and Norwegian Prime Minister Jens Stoltenberg. — AP

Source : Business Times - 30 Mar 2009

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