Published at 02:37 (GMT) 10 Aug
Straits Times: There is no basis to claims that the Government will raise the goods and services tax (GST) after the next general election to fund increased spending, the Ministry of Finance (MOF) has said. Such claims, which have been made on some websites, are inconsistent with what the Government recently stated, the ministry said in a post on the Government's website. In its post, the Finance Ministry said that in the debate in Parliament on the Budget in February, Deputy PM Shanmugaratnam said the increased spending planned for the rest of this decade is sufficiently provided for by measures that the Government had already taken.
On FX, USD/SGD came off the 4.5-mth high of 1.3898 printed last week to trade around 1.3850 in early Asian trading. Temporary consolidation in sight for now. A break of the 1.3800 support will trigger corrective pullback. SGD NEER last seen 1.30% below the midpoint. Onshore markets closed for National Day Observation and thin markets should be expected. CC
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