We must not erode the inheritance and family wealth inherited from the ancestors, nor can we put the descendants of the descendants to bear heavy debt, let alone mortgage their future.We are the sacrifice and vision of the ancestors, but we are also trustees. We must protect this heritage for future generations.This is not only for ourselves, but also responsible for future generations. This is the spirit and contract formed by the Singaporeans for generations.
Singapore was not wealthy at first.When the People's Action Party was in power for the first time in 1959, Dr. Wu Qingrui, the Minister of Finance, immediately discovered that the treasury was empty.He had to immediately implement tightening measures, including cutting the salary of civil servants and ministers.It was not until the early 1980s that we started accumulating reserves.At that time, the sages of the founding of the country considered what to do.Because they expected that the political pressure required to use the reserve will be greater and greater; if these hard -earned reserves are not properly protected, they will be easily spent and unwise.The money was spent, and it was gone.The ancestors felt that they had to work hard to prevent this.
Therefore, at the National Day mass conference in 1984, Mr. Li Guangyao talked about how an unrestrained government splurked the reserve.He proposed a simple principle: if the government wants to spend money, he must raise funds first -whether it is increasing taxes or savvy investment, or other direct, open, and appropriate ways;Accumulation reserve.In order to prevent the rogue government from plundering the reserve, Mr. Li proposed the idea of directly elected the president by the people.The president will have the power and moral authority given by the Constitution to protect the reserve, and can say "no" when the government wants to use the reserve for unwise purpose.This is the concept of the second key.
In 1988, four years later, the People's Action Party government published a white paper for the election presidential system.We take the election presidential proposal as the core issue of the 1988 election.After the election, we revised the Constitution in January 1991 and set up a presidential position of the election.At that time, Mr. Jin Hui, who was already president, therefore had a new monitoring right and became the first president to master the second key.
We have designed a whole system to protect reserves, no matter where these reserves may be.The second key is applicable to the government, especially the Ministry of Finance, but it is also applicable to the Singapore Financial Administration, Temasek Holdings, Singapore Government Investment Corporation, the Central Provident Fund Bureau, Jurong Group and Housing Development Bureau.Why do we include these six entities?Financial Management Bureau -because these are our official foreign exchange reserves; Temasek Holdings -these are our Political Union; Singapore Government Investment Company -it does not have much money itself, but it is the manager of government funds and the Ministry of Finance's funds.The Provident Fund Bureau -These are Singaporeans' savings, and they are not really government money, but if there is a rogue government, this will also face risks.Then there are Jurong Group and Housing Development Bureau.Why?Because they have and manage land: for industry, housing and other purposes.Land is valuable, and in Singapore, land is often valuable.Therefore, we must protect the land and not allow the government to use it to make any form of secret gifts.
Our primary task is to ensure the security of the principal in the reserve.We did not consider how much income it took to spend, but we only adopted a standard accounting view, that is, the income from the reserve was the interest and dividend of our investment.We call it net investment income (NII for short) and decide to use 100%NII in the government.But in fact, we did not use NII because we still have considerable budget surplus.
When Mr. Wang Dingchang was elected president, he asked: Why do we allow ourselves to use 100%NII?He correctly pointed out that we should also reserve part of the funds for future generations.Because over time, the economy continues to grow, and if the amount of reserve remains unchanged, it will become less and less compared to the economy, so the reserve should also increase.There are no magical rules to follow, but we finally decided to adopt five or five pairs and a half system.This is very simple and fair; both presidents and government agrees that this distribution is reasonable.This generation and descendants have half of their own generations. They are simple and intuitive, and everyone can understand.Therefore, Congress passed the constitutional amendment in 2001 to protect 50%of the NII and attribute it to the reserve.
We later realized that NII may not be the best criterion for measuring how much it should spend.Because when we invest, not only pay attention to the income of dividend and interest, but also hope to obtain capital income, which is often more important than dividend payment.For example, if you purchase the company's stock at a price of $ 38 when Facebook first publicly fundraising in 2012, you will find that the value of this stock has increased 12 times, because Meta closed yesterday (February 6) closed on yesterday (February 6).The market price is $ 455.However, you will not receive a penny of dividends.Meta is about to pay the first dividend in March.In this case, can we say that the return on investment is zero?No.We decided not only to consider interest and dividends, but also capital income, of course, we must also consider capital losses.This means that the basis of expenditure is the total investment return -capital income and losses, coupled with income, income, interest and dividends -not just investment income.
In 2008, we revised the Constitution again, clearly stipulating that the government will return from net investment (NIR for short) rather than NII expenditure.But we retain 50%of the rules: the government can use 50%of NIR instead of 50%of NII.We can withdraw from the government from the reserve and include the annual fiscal budget for the amount used for expenditure, called the contribution of the net investment return of reserves (NIRC).
We must understand how precious the reserve is to Singapore.NIRC accounts for one -fifth of the government's income.It accounts for about 3.5%of the GDP (GDP), exceeding our expenditure in any department.We do not have to increase taxes or charge.The Ministry of Finance only needs to ensure that Temasek, the Singapore government investment company and the HKMA are properly managed, and each year should be able to get a 3.5%GDP income.Suppose we have no NIRC from the reserve, what should we do?You can choose to double the company's tax, double the personal income tax of more than double, or to double the consumption tax, that is, from 9%to 18%or 20%.This is the role that Nirc can play, which reduces the burden on Singapore taxpayers.
We can stand here today because the ancestors have the prudential of establishing a reserve and a foreseeable perspective of predicting the political pressure of the reserve.EssenceThis is the so -called diligence management.
Although there is constitutional protection, the pressure of the use of reserve still exists, especially when the demand for expenditure continues to grow.Therefore, people have repeatedly raised questions and requirements.How many reserves do we have?Are there too much?Do we have too much?Can't you save a little less?The Opposition Party vowed to say that they were responsible and gave many specious reasons to use reserve.Spend a little more, just a little more, it will definitely not go bankrupt, right?Of course, we can only talk about income or return without touching principles.Of course, we can treat the land different from other assets, and there is no need to fully pricing it.Once we hold this mentality, we will fall into a deep pit.
"How much is enough" is the problem of error
How much is enough?For me, this is a wrong question.This is a misunderstanding; I said this before, and it is the fact.People mistakenly believe that our reserve has such a number, such as X million yuan, which is enough.If the reserve exceeds x 100 million yuan, there are too many; less than X million yuan, too little.fundamentalIt is impossible to have such a figure.
We can't predict what will happen in the future: What crises will we encounter and how much will we need to deal with it.When the global financial crisis broke out in 2008, we used accumulated reserves for the first time.We formulate a total value of 20.5 billion yuan, of which 4.9 billion yuan comes from accumulating reserves.We implement an employment subsidy plan to help employers pay the provident fund and ensure employment.We launch a special risk sharing plan to encourage bank loans, and the government will share loan risks.Finally, we actually withdrawn 4 billion yuan from the accumulated reserve.Economic recovery is much faster than expected. At the end of the term of office, the government returned the 4 billion yuan.
In the crisis, we also used accumulated reserves to provide guarantees for commercial bank deposits, allocating 150 billion yuan.We will allocate 150 billion yuan from the reserve to support the guarantee.Fortunately, there is no need to use this money without a bank closure.But it is important that we can provide credible guarantees to enhance people's confidence in the Singapore banking system and prevent crowding.Otherwise, the banking system will collapse and the exchange rate will plummet.For those who said this did not happen, it was impossible to happen, I said, "Reality." So is it enough for 4 billion yuan?
When the crown disease attacks us, the severity is not the same.We have sought up to 69 billion yuan from the accumulated reserve to withdraw from the accumulated reserves for medical facilities, testing, vaccine, assistance plans, and assisted supporting facilities to protect life and life.In the end, we actually used about 40 billion yuan.We are unlikely to return 40 billion yuan to the Treasury in the short term.In the crisis crisis, the reserves have played a huge advantage again.It gives us confidence and others' confidence in us.Without reserve, do we dare to pre -order before the vaccine is tested, verified and produced?In the crisis, can we also pay up to 75%of the salary by hiring subsidy plans to protect workers and prevent the company's closure?So we finally used 40 billion yuan.Is 40 billion yuan enough?
Crown disease will not be our last big popularity, nor the worst one.It is far from the worst things we may encounter.How much is enough for us to fall into war like Ukraine?The war caused Ukraine to lose more than $ 100 million per day.It relies heavily on the support of the United States and Europe.Looking forward to the next 50 years, who can guarantee that Singapore will enjoy peace and peace for half a century?Or guarantee that if we find that we are in the same situation as Ukraine, will someone come to save us?
Back to the same question: For Singapore, how much reserve is enough?This question has no reasonable answer.
But this does not mean that we should blindly save the money we earn without considering the current needs.On the contrary, we should regard accumulating reserves as valuable resources established from generation to generation.how many?This is not important.Regardless of how much, we all store it as a reserve for all time.
We have confirmed and written to the constitutional expenditure rules are five or five pairs. This generation is half and the other half is left to the next generation.This is a fair and impartial approach, and it is also the correct and sustainable proportion of maintaining the proportion of reserves to GDP.
Singaporeans are facing higher living expenses. Our expenditure demand has increased, and more plans need to be planned to meet and take care of the aging population.The government does have many plans to help Singaporeans respond to rising living expenses.
Each generation must be quantified as out
We have not forgotten that we can have today's Chinese people.However, each generation must be quantified, and each generation can do it.This does mean that we must modify the tax system from time to time to increase some of these tax rates, such as we have just adjusted the consumption tax to 9%.We have full reasons to do so and debate this.Our expenditure demand has increased, especially in terms of medical care and aging population.And we know that sooner or later will need this money.Why do we do this?This is not a child's play.No one likes to increase taxes.Why do the government voluntarily do something that knows not to be popular without necessary?But if we have to do this, we will do it. This is the responsibility of governing the country.
We must not erode the inheritance and family wealth inherited from the ancestors, nor can we let the descendants bear heavy debt, let alone mortgage their future.We are the sacrifice and vision of the ancestors, but we are also trustees. We must protect this heritage for future generations.This is not only for ourselves, but also responsible for future generations. This is the spirit and contract formed by the Singaporeans for generations.In fact, this is also supported by political parties in Congress.
During the global financial crisis, we issued a budget of fiscal 2009 in advance to respond to the crisis.This is a budget released in the crisis, and we have launched an employment subsidy plan for the first time.We intend to withdraw 4.9 billion yuan from the accumulated reserve.Mr. Liu Chengqiang questioned why the government was not using the government's current budget deposit.He said: "The unusual point of revitalizing supporting facilities is that the government will use accumulated reserve to fund the two main parts of supporting facilities, namely the employment subsidy plan and special risk sharing plan ...It is only used when needed, especially when the government encounters an unprecedented financial situation, and must respond from the perspective of national interests.There are sufficient deposits to provide funds for the entire revitalization support during this term, and the budget deficit that is generated by this is estimated to be ... "a certain amount.This is a very reasonable question and a very polite opposition. He raised it right, and we also debated this.
Our answer is that this is to retain "dry gunpowder", and it may need to be used afterwards.Fortunately, we don't need to do so.In 2011, when the government returned 4 billion yuan to accumulating reserves, Mr. Liu spoke again.He did something respectable: praised the government.This is a way of acting in charge of opposition.We jointly promise to protect the accumulated reserve, because we realize that it is a strategic asset and can only be used under unprecedented circumstances.
Now, I hear that the opposition party advocates that we should change the rules and extract more from the reserve. Of course, they have no intention of plundering the reserves, let alone want to let Singapore go bankrupt.I think their attitude has changed.What I want to remind is that the changes they proposed are not just policy changes, but must be amended the constitution to withdraw and use more funds from the accumulated reserve of the president.
They said that the growth of growth and rising living expenses are all facts.However, saving surplus into a reserve is far from our wealth.To put it plainly, it's much poorer than us.However, for future generations, they still save surplus; the argument we hear now is: we should withdraw more money from the reserve, the reason is that we need this money more today!There is a saying in the Chinese: it is difficult to start a business, it is more difficult to keep the industry, and the loser is easy.
Mr. Li Guangyao and his team have long foreseen that there will always be many noble and popular reasons to ask the government to provide resources.But we also know that money is never enough.He knows that it is always difficult to increase taxes in politics.This is why he and his colleagues designed and implemented the "two keys" system.
Some senior colleagues told Mr. Li that locking reserve is an impossible task.Because their ideas are: If a generation wants to spend this money, they will try to get the money and do it.Mr. Li disagreed, he decided to do his best.Singaporeans have the ability to continue to be cautious and responsible after the founding of the country.This generation is also a predecessor of descendants, and we must be responsible for future generations.
Responsible for the present and future
The election government is not only to take care of the current citizens, but also to ensure the future of the country.The DAP government has been doing these two things, in taking picturesAt the same time as citizens at the moment, they also pay attention to protecting young people who have no right to vote, unborn citizens, and the long -term interests of Singapore.In 2001, when we implemented 50%of Nii and amended the constitution, Mr. Li Guangyao participated in the debate. He reminded everyone in Congress: "In the end, as a government, who we have the greatest responsibility for?Not just now, of course, not the past. "
In the final analysis, major issues like this in Singapore will be determined by the people.The DAP is convinced that this is the right way for Singapore.If any political party thinks that this is not the correct approach, if they really think that we should use more reserves, bring it to the voting box and clearly propose it to run for this issue in the next election.I believe that the Singaporeans do believe in us, because the Singapore Institute of Policy's Institute of Policy The Singaporean's investigation report, the Singaporeans are confident in the ability of the party's government to manage the reserve.Therefore, we are confident that we will win this debate and can let Singaporeans do the right thing.
Looking at the reserve with a long -term perspective, and a proper balance between the current and future demand, these are important responsibilities of any Singaporean government.I took 40 years to manage, maintain, and improve this system to continue the work of my ancestors.Now, I am preparing to transfer a more prosperous and safer Singapore to my successor.I ask everyone to help them maintain an effective prudential policy, so that Singapore is kept on the right track, so that all of us can continue to benefit from the success of the country in the future.
This article is a speech when Premier Li participated in the public finance dynamic debate on the 7th of this month.
Golden Shun Festival translation
