I heard some remarks by Leong Sze Hian in Hong Lim Park regarding the surplus in the Government finances.
The government reported a surplus of $3 billion but according to IMF accounting conventions, the actual surplus is $30 billion. (I cannot quite remember the figures that he used, so this is based on my recollection).
He said that IMF convention recognize land sale, and transfer from government agencies as revenue to the government, but they were ignored in our government budget figures. I agree with the approach by IMF in this respect.
I consider the reporting adopted in our budget to be under-stating the actual surplus.
The government reported a surplus of $3 billion but according to IMF accounting conventions, the actual surplus is $30 billion. (I cannot quite remember the figures that he used, so this is based on my recollection).
He said that IMF convention recognize land sale, and transfer from government agencies as revenue to the government, but they were ignored in our government budget figures. I agree with the approach by IMF in this respect.
I consider the reporting adopted in our budget to be under-stating the actual surplus.
2 comments:
Mr Tan, there is an article about this. The IMF Standard if used will result in our 2012 Budget surplus to be SGD36.26Bn!
< http://www.tremeritus.com/2013/03/31/sg-govt-made-surplus-of-s187b-from-2005-2012/>
Take Govt's Reports and Statistics with a pinch of salt.
With so much land sales the past few years, only the daftest Singaporean would believe only a few billions surplus in the Accounts.
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