But first Happy Neigh Yr .
S’pore had the second highest number of int’l tourists after HK in 2012. Distant third is Bangkok. KL is 6th. All benefit from Chinese tourists.http://www.economist.com/blogs/gulliver/2014/01/popular-cities
PAP govt must be doing shumething right, TRE , TOC readers? The casinos perhaps, Tan Jee Say?
Hong Kong will resume a programme to subsidise home purchases to address public anger over ever rising property prices.
Donald Tsang, HK’s leader, said in his annual policy address that the government plans to provide more than 17,000 apartments between 2016 and 2020. On average about 5,000 apartments will be available each year. “Peanuts” by S’pore standards and remember there are lots more people in HK.
The programme is aimed at families who earn too much to qualify for public rental housing but who cannot afford to buy a home of their own.
The flats are to be priced at the equivalent of S$250,000 – S$330,000 and available to those earning a monthly salary of the equivalent of S$3,300 and S$5,000. These apartments will be between 400 to 500 square feet in size.
More background from BBC Online.
In a new index on financial secrecy, S’pore is only ranked sixth. The Financial Secrecy Index 2011, puts Switzerland on top, followed by the Cayman Islands, Luxembourg, Hong Kong and the USA.
The Tax Justice Network, the group behind the report, says, “[A] secrecy jurisdiction provides facilities that enable people or entities escape or undermine the laws, rules and regulations of other jurisdictions elsewhere, using secrecy as a prime tool.”
The government’s policy is to encourage the growth of wealth management here so that S’pore can be the Switzerland of the East. Well, the central bank and the Attorney-General’s Chambers have a lot of work to do to make S’pore a better secrecy jurisdiction. Hong Kong is a better secrecy juridiction than S’pore. And S’pore and Hong Kong are rivals in the race to be the leading wealth management centre in East Asia.
At least, this report shows S’pore is a better global citizen than Switzerland, Hong Kong and the USA. But where’s the money in being a responsible, decent chap?
S’pore is second to HK in a list of most popular business hubs. London is third. As the people of both these cities have rioted against their living conditions, will S’poreans riot? Nope, they will elect Tony Tan as president.
Hong Kong and Singapore have become the top two business locations in the world – ahead of cities like London and New York – a new study by CB Richard Ellis showed. It found that 68.2% of the world’s largest companies had a presence in Hong Kong.
Singapore was a close second with a tally of 67.5%, and Tokyo was third with 63.9%. In fourth position was London, with a score of 63.2%. Shanghai was fifth with 61.4%.
Middle class S’porean faced with stagnating wages but rising transport and property prices, are not impressed by this elevated status.
So what abt the people of the HK? The middle class are in worse shape than us except when it comes to democracy.
The territory’s middle classes, known locally as the sandwich class because they are squeezed between the rich and the poor, are frustrated by unaffordable property prices and a lack of democracy in government.
Hong Kong enjoys many civil liberties unavailable across the border in China, such as the right to protest. But residents cannot vote directly for their leader or for many legislative seats.
According to a University of Hong Kong opinion survey released last week, dissatisfaction with the government over livelihood conditions has reached the highest level since 1992 …
“What you have is a whole wodge of people who have jobs but are still struggling, ” says Christine Loh, the head of the Civil Exchange think tank and a former legislator.
The sources of discontent are wide-ranging but centre on economic issues such as soaring housing prices, inflation and the wealth gap.
Inflation figures due to be released on Thursday are expected to show the city’s inflation rate stood at 5.2% in June, its highest in almost three years, driven by rising rents and soaring food prices.
Hong Kong imports 90% of its food and much comes from China where pork prices are at a record high.
Home prices rose last 24% last year and are up 12% so far this year as newly affluent mainland Chinese snap up apartments here.
According to a report by Demographia International, Hong Kong property, at 11.4 times gross median annual household income, is the most unaffordable in the world.
Nearly half the population lives in government or subsidised housing and buying their own home is out of reach for many residents.
As regards the very poor (our VB makes his HK counterpart look like Scrooge):
Tam Kin Wai, a retired hospital porter … lives in a “cubicle home” that is barely 2m (6ft) wide with his wife and 13-year old son in Sham Shui Po. They must share a toilet and kitchen with eight other families. “Living costs are always going up,” he says.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-14197240
Hey maybe the 60% of voters who voted for the PAP have a pt. Us 40% are the daft ones.
Thoughts of a Cynical Investor 