It was only recently that the Republic's sovereign wealth fund manager, with well over S$125 billion under its control, reluctantly admitted that its funds are sourced from current account surpluses, government surpluses AND CPF inflows. What they are still not willing to reveal is exactly how much CPF monies have been stashed in the hush-hush pool. While on the subject of secretive money, do note that those surpluses are the result of the present government being thrifty (planners' view) or plain mean (people's view). Money which should have been allocated for social needs, be it healthcare, public transport or affordable housing for the masses.
Does it help if they add Suppiah Dhanabalan to the board? When he was in charge of DBS, and officers were jumping ship because they were the lowest paid, Dhanabalan gave the lame excuse that DBS was the training school for Singapore's future bankers. The stampede continued unabated, and he had to quietly revise the pay scale to match. And when he killed off POSB, he claimed that the effect of disgruntled customers moving off to other banks was minimal. The reality was that the migration of funds was huge, and he had to quietly bring the POSB name back. To date he is still keeping mum about Ross Worthington's documented account of being slapped in the cabinet meeting room, continuing to "subscribe to the tenet of all secrets staying within the PAP family" (chapter on "The Civil Service and Core Executive Dynamics", page 150,151). The tragedy here is that Dhanabalan is a bible carrying church goer, and he will be carrying secrets to his grave, all for the sake of a seat on the board.
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With cost of interest @ minimum 2.5%, returns are still impressive
ReplyDeleteAnd they still have that crotchety old man as the Senior Advisor who will surely take all his secrets to the grave as well. The only boast that he will rise from the grave as Dhanabalan's saviour did all those years ago will ring as hollow as GICs'.
ReplyDeleteWe do not know the exact composition of the GIC "co-mingled" funds, but we do know the composition of government borrowings outstanding as of March 2013:
ReplyDeleteT-bills 60 S$billion
SGS Bonds 87 S$billion
SSGS 249 S$billion
Total 396 S$$billion
Notice the preponderance of SSGS. They borrow heavily from the CPF (SSGS). It is disingenuous and dishonest for the DPM to suggest that borrowing from CPF is not cheap, because there is no line of borrowers. There is nothing left to borrow after the GIC has snatched whatever is there with it's grubby hands, after adjusting it's borrowing limits, the government being on the boards of both CPF and GIC, and paying a derisory 2.5% on the Ordinary Account.
http://app.mof.gov.sg/data/cmsresource/Public%20Debt%20Report%202013.pdf
Isn't it incestuous, to lend to and borrow from yourself using other people's money, and arbitrarily determine the rate? Is there a term for it, like conflict of interest, or a breach of trust?
Delete@Anonymous8/04/2014 11:48 AM
DeleteThanks for the info... you wrote it clearly.
GIC's 4.1% and 12.4% returns are measured in US dollars. Over the last 20 years, the US dollar has weakened over 20% vs Sing dollar, and over last 5 years, it has weakened 10% vs Sing dollar. So in Sing dollar terms, which is what matters to you all CPF members, GIC's returns are deeply negative, whether over 20 or over 5 years.
ReplyDeleteNow in case you still need to guess why dhana is crossing the road, from ex-Temasek Chairmanship to GIC board, think no further. The ex-civil servants and scholars in GIC are having a whale of a time losing your CPF monies while drawing wall street pay. At least Temasek and madam has not posted a negative return in Sing dollar terms, YET. Which is why, before that happens, the next move is for madam to replace ex-Perm sec lim siong guan as Group MD of GIC. Btw, the people who messed up GIC's portfolio are long gone, the biggest culprit is old fart's yoga and meditation guru. It matters not how you perform in the civil service, its who you know that counts. That's cronyism Singapore style.
You mean meritocracy Singapore style?
DeleteI'll share this on FB so more people can be informed
ReplyDeleteWhat can be more insulting and humiliating when the cry-baby loser was parachuted into Temasek high board, self claiming to be the most knowledgeable and best man for the "job". Crony has their best days to come and we don't need another Roy Ngern to fully understand what was happening inside closed room. It is no wonder someone by the name Denis Phua was screaming to have iconic president like Tony and Nathan and do away with the late Ong Teng Cheong. 3 keys are the symbol of CPF, ya right, they score two points, and the people one point. We can never know what is happening, but we knew already. GE2016 is a reminder.
ReplyDeleteIn case nobody knows who is the cry-baby, Lim Boon Heng. who else.
Deletewith inflation of about 3.7%, this real return of 4.1% cannot never be achieved with a nominal return of 12% becoz 4.1% + 3.7% << 10%
ReplyDeleteif they cannot even reconcile basic numbers like this... I don't know what good can they do...