INTRODUCTION Singapore’s Budget 2024 was introduced at a time of significant global economic turbulence, aiming to provide a blueprint for the city-state’s prosperity. The budget aims to navigate the balance between fostering economic growth and addressing immediate societal needs amid global uncertainties. This article takes a closer look at the budget’s implications, especially for the Malay Muslim community, and evaluates its potential to address both current and future challenges.
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Singapore’s S$10,869 Median Household Income: How Are We Actually Faring As A Society?
Many of us would have read the headlines in early February this year: Median monthly household income in Singapore above $10,000 in 2023 for second straight year, The Straits Times reports. CNA gets even more specific in their headlines: Median monthly household income rises to S$10,869 in 2023, a real increase of 2.8%. Its subheading states that “the median monthly household income from work per household member rose to S$3500 in 2023.” These headlines prompted the incredulity of many citizens, expressing their disbelief at these numbers, as they do not
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Folk Tradecrafts, Black Boxes and Caches: A Request for Algorithmic Legibility in Gig Work
I a bit IT-oriented ah …When you go the [online] forum, people complain in the forum, I cannot get this, cannot get that. Full of comments on bad apps. Then I write in, try to clear your cache, that is the secret.[1] Neil, a private hire platform driver, shared the above ‘secret’ to getting more jobs during an interview with me. Another ‘secret’ shared by another driver was having multiple phones, each with a particular gig work app on, instead of having all the apps switched on the same smartphone. […]
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Budget 2023: A Missed Opportunity
On 14 February 2023, Deputy Prime Minister (DPM) and Finance Minister Lawrence Wong delivered the 2023 Budget Statement in Parliament. Dubbing it a “Valentine’s Day present to all”[1], it was likely that Singaporeans would have been most interested in cash payouts, which could be seen as ‘gifts’ from the government. The initiatives outlined in the Budget were meant to address pressing bread-and-butter issues faced by every Singaporean, such as the recent GST hike which started on 1 January 2023, as well as global inflation.
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Using Cash Waqf to Combat Donor Fatigue and Blockchain to Improve Accountability
Donating to a multitude of charitable causes can get tiresome after a while. For working-class people who are financially burdened with their own daily needs and monthly expenses, there is also a limited amount that may be set aside, and the constant giving could weigh them down.
Additionally, a great deal of money is donated to fund charitable causes, but it is hard to observe how efficient or effective these efforts are, or whether they reach the intended beneficiaries, in some cases.
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Woes of the Middle Class
Inflation has been a growing concern for many over recent months. The rising prices of goods across many sectors will no doubt incite waves of anxieties and worries in every individual. While inflation does not discriminate, it disproportionately affects every stratum in society. Not everyone copes similarly to adapt to their rising expenses. This article aims to provide an overview of the realities of the middle-class facing inflation and how they would fare in surviving an inflationary crisis. It also seeks to understand how far inflation has affected them and whether the government should do more to help them through these challenging times.
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Mitigating the Impact of Rising Inflation Rates in Singapore
The recovery phase from the COVID-19 pandemic has been slowed by several external shocks to the world’s global value and supply chain. Already one of the most expensive cities to live in, Singapore’s headline consumer price index or overall inflation reached 5.4 percent year on year in April 2022[1]. The core inflation (excludes accommodation and transport) also accelerated to 3.3 percent, the highest in a decade when core inflation reached 3.5 percent in 2012.
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Key Developments and the Rise of NFTs in Singapore
The wider view of the rise of non-fungible tokens, or NFTs, is the decentralisation of financial services. With the application of the blockchain and its integration with artificial intelligence (AI) and IoT devices[1] (e.g. NFCs and RFIDs), finance has become more efficient and accessible. There are several key drivers that are making decentralised finance work _ tokenisation of real-world assets, maturity of stable coins and the improved implementation or acceptance of some regulations and standardisation.
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SG Budget 2022: A Fairer and More Resilient Society
The national Budget speech is an annual address crammed with numbers and financial jargon that can be confusing, making it difficult to be excited about; of course, with the exception of the announcement on cash payouts. However, regardless of its appeal, the Budget affects us and our finances. Thus, we need to make sense of it as it is our right and duty as taxpayers, voters, and citizens to know how our money is being spent.
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Digital Currencies and Their Adoption in Singapore
MONEY, FIAT CURRENCY AND CRYPTOCURRENCIES
The three main functions of money are as a unit of account, medium of exchange and store of value. Cash is a financial instrument and physical asset that combines four features: (i) it is anonymous; (ii) it is universal (anyone can take possession); (iii) it is exchanged peer to peer (without knowledge of the issuer); and (iv) it does not yield any interest by itself[1]. Banks are the traditional money creators and maintain their inimitability at keeping reserves at the central banks (CBs).