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www.scmp.com/business/economy/article/1420215/singaporeans-not-wealthy-gdp-figures-suggest PUBLISHED : Tuesday, 04 February, 2014, 5:57am UPDATED : Tuesday, 04 February, 2014, 3:00pm Singaporeans not as wealthy as GDP figures suggest HK performs better than the Lion City on the basis of personal consumption expenditure Jake van der Kamp ... the average growth of Singapore's gross domestic product and GDP per capita has outperformed Hong Kong's over the last 45 years. Its GDP was only half that of Hong Kong more than 20 years ago. Today the Lion City's GDP is slightly ahead and GDP per capita is 25 per cent higher than in Hong Kong. Letters to the editor, SCMP, February 2 OK, let's play games with GDP numbers as these are what Singapore bureaucrats love to play and as the numbers are not quite what they seem. We shall start by conceding the headline figures. Yes, as of the latest statistical releases, GDP at prevailing rates of exchange runs at an annual rate of about US$52,000 per person of the total population in Singapore and US$37,000 in Hong Kong, which puts Singapore about 40 per cent ahead, not just 25 per cent. The point about GDP, however, is that it is meant to be a measure of wealth. It does not mean much to you unless it represents wealth that finds its way into your hands, that is, unless it takes the form of a component of GDP called personal consumption expenditure. I now refer you to the first chart. In Singapore, personal consumption expenditure has steadily fallen over the years as a percentage of GDP and, at 35 per cent, is now barely half of what it is in Hong Kong. This is an oddity characteristic of a startup economy, not of a wealthy town like Singapore. But it means that, on the basis of our money-in-your-hands measure, Hong Kong at US$24,000 per capita still outranks Singapore at US$21,000. The second chart gives you a clue as to why the two economies are so different on this measure. Industrial investment in Singapore, always predominantly foreign, has become even more so in recent years, accounting for an average of about 80 per cent of total investment over the past 10 years. I do not have the equivalent figures for Hong Kong but, at a rough guess, the foreign-local ratio would be the reverse. This foreign investment in Singapore has in turn produced a huge trade surplus in both goods and services. Over recent years, it has run at about 30 per cent of GDP. And most of this money goes right back out again to pay foreigners for all the confidence they have shown in Singapore by investing in it so heavily. In short, Singapore's high GDP numbers are mostly an anomaly created by very generous industrial concessions to foreigners. They do not really reflect domestic wealth. In another way, however, these GDP measures of Hong Kong and Singapore do not mean much as a yardstick of the comparative efficiency of either system. The fact is both are parasite economies feeding off much larger neighbours, the mainland in Hong Kong's case and Indonesia and Malaysia in Singapore's. They are both wealthy because they perform services that their neighbours cannot or, for reasons of policy, will not perform. All that their relative state of wealth really tells you is one has fewer scruples than the other about how low it is willing to go. On this measure, I definitely rate Singapore as the more successful. This article appeared in the South China Morning Post print edition as Singaporeans not as wealthy as GDP figures suggest

Last Feb09, I mentioned to forumers here that i recommended my uncle (prev Sunny) and colleague (prev Vios) to the Forte. Now's a year on, I was at my Uncle's place for CNY visitation. We spoke about cars, and i was lamenting to him about my 9-10km/litre FC for my mz3 1.6SP. He shocked me with his 7km/litre figure for his manual 1.6 forte! i nearly fell off my chair, and for one moment again, agreed that Korean cars still have lots of catching up to do in FC aspect. He also pointed out that he should have gotten a FC friendly altis instead. I regretted introducing this car to him... The puzzling thing he mentioned about his forte is that it prefers hard revving to achieve good FC, while gentle driving hurts FC tremendously. To cut the story short, i went down with him to have a go at his forte, and it's when he showed me the FC trip display. 6.8L/100km We had a good laugh together.

Dear CPF member, Singapore Budget 2011 - Initiatives Relating to CPF More for Your Retirement! Taking into consideration the sustained economic growth and to keep pace with income growth, the Government is making the following changes on 1 September 2011 to help you save more for your retirement: (1) Increase in Employer CPF Contribution by 0.5 Percentage Point The additional 0.5 percentage point will go into your Special Account to help you save more for retirement. This increase will be on top of the 0.5 percentage point increases each on 1 September 2010 and 1 March 2011 that were previously announced, thus restoring the total CPF contribution rate to 36%. All employees will benefit from the new CPF contribution rate change. Employees aged above 35 who are earning between $50 and $1,500 per month will also see pro-rated increases in their CPF contribution rate. (2) Increase in CPF Salary Ceiling to $5,000 The CPF salary ceiling will be adjusted upwards from $4,500 to $5,000 for all age groups. This change will benefit an estimated 390,000 members earning more than $4,500 a month. Workfare Special Bonus (WSB) To ensure that low-wage workers benefit from the economic growth, the Government will provide a one-off Workfare Special Bonus (WSB) over and above the regular Workfare Income Supplement (WIS). The WSB will reward low-wage workers aged 35 and above for work done in 2010, 2011 and 2012, and will be given out in four equal payments: Workfare Special Bonus Qualifying period during which work is done Payment Date 2010 Jan-Dec 2010 May-11 Dec-11 2011 Jan-Dec 2011 Dec-12 2012 Jan-Dec 2012 Dec-13 Employees can receive up to $2,800 WSB. The payments will be made fully in cash. Self-Employed Persons can receive up to $1,868 WSB. The payments will be made half in cash and half into their CPF Medisave Accounts. Tax Benefits for Voluntary Contributions by Companies to Self-Employed Persons' Medisave Accounts To increase Self-Employed Persons' (SEP) savings to meet their medical needs, tax benefits will be given for voluntary contributions made by companies to the Medisave Accounts of SEPs who work with them. If you are self-employed, both you and the company you work with will enjoy the tax benefits. The benefit to a SEP is: Contributions made by your company to your Medisave Account will now be tax-exempt up to $1,500 per calendar year. The benefit to a company which voluntarily contributes to SEPs' Medisave Accounts is: The company will be allowed tax deductions of up to $1,500 per Self-Employed per calendar year. These changes are applicable for voluntary contributions made from 1 January 2011, and the tax benefits will take effect from Year of Assessment 2012. For more details of the CPF changes, please click here. Yours faithfully CPF Board So, only 390000 singaporeans/permanent residents eligible for cpf earn more than 4.5k?

Look at this CAR 0-100kmh 0-400meter alfa 156 2.0 manual 8.1 sec 16.0 sec 2001 VW golf 2.3 V5 7.4 sec 16.1 sec subaru forester 2.0XT 7.9 sec 16.1 sec BMW E46 320i (2.2) 8.0 sec 16.1 sec Mini Cooper S 7.6 sec 16.2 sec Peugeot 206GTi 7.8 sec 16.2 sec 1998 Merc C280 Auto 7.7 sec 16.1 sec 2000 Merc C320 Auto 7.6 sec 15.9 sec Audi TT 180bhp 7.8 sec 15.7 sec 1991 VW VR6 7.1 sec 15.7 sec 1999 BMW 328Ci 7.4 sec 15.8 sec 1991 Civic VTi 7.3 sec 15.8 sec Volvo S80 T6 7.2 sec 15.8 sec Lexus LS430 Auto 7.4 sec 15.7 sec Lexus GS300 Auto 8.5 sec 16.8 sec 1997 VW Golf 1.8T (150bhp) 8.5 sec 16.8 sec Merc C200 Kompressor Auto 8.9 sec 16.9 sec Mitsubishi FTO 6.9 sec 15.4 sec Porsche Boxster (204bhp) 6.5 sec 15.6 sec Alfa 156 2.5 v6 7.2 sec 15.8 sec Sourced from http://www.syclone.freeserve.co.uk/rivals_cars.htm Cheers!

Hi, can the owners post their consumption rates here? Please indicate the cc and type of transmission.....