KiasuParents - Parenting in Singapore

SINGAPORE: Singapore's inflation in January rose to its highest level in 25 months.

Data released on Wednesday by the Department of Statistics (DOS) showed that the consumer price index (CPI) increased by 5.5 per cent on-year.

That was the fastest year-on-year increase in prices since December 2008 and higher than the 4.8 per cent CPI forecast by economists and the 4.6 per cent on-year rise in December last year.

Standard Chartered Bank economist Alvin Liew said this was "unlikely to be the peak inflation reading for Singapore".

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/ ... 91/1/.html

Lunch provided by the Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society is a humble assortment of rice, fish and vegetables.

The centre at Telok Blangah Crescent distributes two free meals to the elderly, six days a week.

But with food prices on the rise, the voluntary welfare organisation is feeling the pinch.

Amy Sim, a 56-year-old cook at Telok Blangah Meal Centre, Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society, said: "A few years back, I bought one carton of chicken wings at S$60, S$58. Today, it's S$70 to S$80 a carton.

"I try not to over-budget my marketing ... I try to get a cheaper range of food for the elderly, yet it's healthy food."

While the price increases are still being fully absorbed by the society, there is a "painful, last resort", if the cost of food continues to climb.

Lee Kim Siang, chairman, Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society, said: "Maybe, we'll have to look at charging a nominal sum of 50 cents per meal or packet. I think we might have to do that if the prices have gone up steadily without stopping and it's threatening the whole process of helping people." .....

http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/ ... 69/1/.html

in Sep 2010, Thye Hua Kwan Moral Society held its charity show on MediaCorp's Channel 8. At the end of the programme, the show raised S$4,065,673, exceeding its initial target of S$3.7 million.


S$4m is not enough in the face of raising cost

Tankee, wat u gonna do with d poll results?

nothing ...

just poll for fun.

The sad thing about inflation is that our real income will never match with our nominal income. Our nominal income is always too low..

Today I gave the annual bonus and increment letter to my staff and later asked her how she feels, was she ok with it?

She did not look as happy as I thought she would be. For eg. bonus a portion of it was paid in stock options which was told to me last minute by the HR as a management initiative. Hence the cash payout seems less than what she expected.

Secondly, she also was just "OK" with the increment. Although it was a double-digit increment given in 2 parts, one last Sep and the other this year. Perhaps split into 2 did not seems a lot.

She asked me whether I read the newspaper article about the rate of inflation recently? That the increment does not seems to catch up with inflation.

Actually I was quite annoyed when she brought this up because our company is very strict about increment. Even with promotion, increment these 2 years were at a single-digit and on the low side of the scale! Like I also know our salary increment does not catch up with the crazy inflation over the past couple of years, even for myself. I can imagine my boss will not be pleased if I were to raise this to him. Today I just thanked him for my bonus and increment. At least it was better than last year!

BUT, anybody out there working with a company that pays you salary increment to keep up with the inflation rate? Let me know!

someone care to enlighten me how will increasing wages help deal with inflation?

in my opinion, increasing wages increase business costs and then higher priced goods. long run lesser profits due to low demand from higher prices. no win situation.

any one have other views?

AceTutors123 wrote:someone care to enlighten me how will increasing wages help deal with inflation?

in my opinion, increasing wages increase business costs and then higher priced goods. long run lesser profits due to low demand from higher prices. no win situation.

any one have other views?

Depends. If wages increase but productivity increases, then it will not affect costs. Eg. if company can hire 2 highly competent staff that can do the work of 10 not very good staff, increasing wages for the good staff may even allow the company to save costs. That's why the gahmen is so into increasing productivity.

But I digress. The unanimity of the results on the above poll is very telling

AceTutors123 wrote:someone care to enlighten me how will increasing wages help deal with inflation?

in my opinion, increasing wages increase business costs and then higher priced goods. long run lesser profits due to low demand from higher prices. no win situation.

any one have other views?

Wages n inflation affects each other.
Prices will rise thus inflation is inevitable. If wages do not rise to keep
pace with inflation, then u will experience a lower std of living.
For example,
In d last decade, d real income of Singaporeans rose 5% in real terms.
If we assume an annualized inflation of 2% - 3% over this period
n average it out at 2.5%, d cumulative inflation was > 95%.
A cup of coffee in kopitiam dat costs $0.50 or $0.60 a decade ago
now costs $1 - $1.10 , a $1.50 - $2 bowl of noodles then
now cost u $3 - $4 > an inflation of 67% - 100% or more.
Did d average person wages rise by dat much over dis period?
Do you feel d pinch now?