Saving Money From Singapore Budget 2011

Saving Money From Singapore Budget 2011

Singapore's Minister For Finance, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, delivered financial goodies to Singapore on 18 February 2011.

The two main thrusts of the 2011 Singapore Budget 2011 were to grow incomes for all Singaporeans and to strengthen our society.

How much money was going to be delivered to Singaporeans? $6.6 billion of benefits for all Singaporeans.

Of the $6.6 billion budget, a one-off $3.2 billion of Grow & Share package will flow to Singaporean households because of 2010's execeptional growth. The lower-income and middle-income will receive more than the rest of Singaporeans.

A new Growth Dividend of $1.5 billion was announced and will be given to all adult Singaporeans (about 2.5 million Singaporeans) by 1 May 2011. This Growth Dividend amount ranges from $800 to $100.

Other goodies will put money into deserving households and CPF accounts. There are many financial goodies and handouts which are beyond the scope of our post today. If you are interested about the details, read more at this site: http://app.singaporebudget.gov.sg/budget_2011/default.aspx

What we wish to highilight are these question.

Are you going to save your Growth Dividend cash handout for financial investments, retirement or other purposes?

Or are you going to spend the Growth Dividend. If you spend, would it be on your wants or on your needs?

At Singapore Savings Account Rates, we know that we will be saving any Growth Dividend and other goodies in our personal Singapore savings account. This is because the money will be wired directly into Singapore savings accounts automatically by the Government.

What we will do with the money in the savings account is another matter. Perhaps it would become fodder for discussion in another Singapore Savings Account Rates post.

The Team

Singapore Savings Account Rates.

Singapore Budget 2009: Savings Reserves To Be Used

Singapore Budget 2009: Savings Reserves To Be Used

I have highlighted some issues why Singapore Savings Account readers might be interested in the Singapore Budget 2009. Now that the Singapore Budget 2009 has been released, let us see if our questions have been answered.

In delivering the Singapore Budget 2009 on 22 January 2009, Singapore's Finance Minister, Mr Tharman Shanmugaratnam, revealed that Singapore will dip into its reserve savings for the first time ever since independence to fund a S$20.5 billion dollar Resilience Package, creating a budget deficit of 6.0% GDP in the process.

What this means is that the Singapore Government will use its savings reserves from its own savings account (accumulated during good times) to help create jobs, cushion the impact of Singapore's worst recession and to build a home for the future.

Singapore's President has given his in-principle approval for withdrawal of $4.9 billion from past savings reserves. The President’s assent to the Supply Bill will be obtained after Parliament has passed the Bill.

This is also the first time that the government has sought the President's approval for such action since the Constitutional framework for protection of reserves was set up in 1991.

Our Finance Minister also made it clear that more off Budget measures may be activated (?? possibly more withdrawal from the savings of our reserves) should the recession worsen.

In the Singapore Budget 2009, the CPF rates remain unchanged. Instead a Jobs Credit has been created (in the form of a cash grant amounting to 12% of the first $2,500 of the each employee's wages) to pay companies who retain their staff on their payroll.

Bank savings account interest rates are unlikely to change much with the release of Budget 2009. The good news is that our Finance Minister thinks that inflation will come down to zero in 2009. So our paltry interest payments received from bank savings accounts in 2009 may actually beat inflation for once!

As to whether bank savings deposits guarantees will still be around after the end of 2010, it will depend on the state of the economy near that point in time. By the decisive and responsive measures taken by our Finance Minister, we can be assured that the decision making will be appropriate and sound.

Thank you for reading Singapore Savings Account Rates, the place to look for the best and latest savings account rates in Singapore.

Singapore Budget 2009, CPF Rates and Savings Account Rates

Singapore Budget 2009, CPF Rates and Savings Account Rates

Minister for Finance, Mr. Tharman Shanmugaratnam will deliver the Budget Speech for the Financial Year 2009 in Parliament on Thursday, 22 January 2009.

Singapore Savings Account Rates readers can watch the delivery of the Singapore Budget 2009 Speech via live webcast on Budget Day, in addition to the simultaneous live telecast over Channel NewsAsia (with Chinese translation on dual sound mode) and over radio on 938Live.

What will be revealed on 22 January in the Singapore Budget 2009?

Of interest to our readers would be a few issues that could result from measures to be announced in Singapore Budget 2009.

CPF Rates
Will there be any downward revision to the CPF contribution rates (ordinary, medisave, special and retirement accounts) with the announced convening of the National Wages Council, notwithstanding the assurance given by Minister Lim Boon Heng?

Savings Account Rates
Will there be any Singapore Budget 2009 initiatives that will impact (positively or negatively) the balance sheets of banks and financial institutions, that in turn may affect the Singapore savings account deposits rates?

Recession Relief
Will Singapore Budget 2009 be enough to mitigate the pain of a deepening global recession, given the published announcement that the Singapore economy may shrink 2% in 2009?

Savings Guarantees
Will there be an extension of the government guarantees on Singapore savings account deposits in banks and financial institutions beyond 2010 if the global credit crisis persists?

Some answers, hopefully desirable, may soon be revealed in Singapore Budget 2009.

Singapore Budget 2009 is out.

Read more about our views on the budget...

In the meantime, life must go on. Keep reading Singapore Savings Account Rates to make your bank savings deposits work hard for you.