Oct 12, 2012

Singapore. Sovereign Wealth Returns. Revised estimate of citizen income.

The citizen-ownership income from sovereign wealth fund investment returns was an underestimate.

The "Net Investment Returns Contribution" is $7.35 billion for FY2010 and $7.78 billion for FY2011.

The Singapore government has given more clarification:
"The Net Investment Returns Contribution (NIRC) comprises up to 50% of the Net Investment Returns on the net assets managed by the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation (GIC) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), and up to 50% of the investment income from the remaining assets (which includes Temasek Holdings). For more information on the rules governing how investment returns from Past Reserves can be taken into each year’s Budget for spending, please refer to Section II of “Our Nation’s Reserves” "
So $7 billion is at most 50% of the net investment returns from GIC, MAS and Temasek Holdings. It could be less, even 10%, of the net investment returns. As stated by MOF, Temasek Holdings has $198 billion, MAS has $304 billion, and GIC has well over $100 billion. Let's take the minimum of $600 billion. A 3% return will mean $18 billion in investment returns. But Temasek Holdings has been reporting 15% returns. So TH alone will have $30 billion investment return. It is likely that the declared $7 billion is a small fraction of the net investment returns.

Assuming NIRC is 50% of the net investment returns, the net investment return from sovereign wealth funds would be $14.7 billion in 2010 and $15.56 billion in 2011

If Singapore were a citizen-ownership democracy, its citizens (3.2 million) would have received $4594 in 2010 and $4862 in 2011 per citizen. For a small family of 4, this amount would had been $18375 in 2011 and $19450 in 2011.

If NIRC is a quarter of the net investment returns, the potential citizen-ownership dividend would have been double the estimates above.

Remember that citizens own all the country's common wealth that has not been sold to private entities. There are many common properties that have not been counted in the above estimate.

The estimated citizen income from land sales is $3750 for every citizen. The estimate citizen income from vehicle quota premium is $625 per citizen.

From just 3 sources, the estimated citizen income for 2011 is at least $4862 + $3750 + $625 = $9262 for every citizen from babies to elderlies.

IF Singapore truly recognizes citizen-ownership, there will really be no poverty in Singapore.  $9262 per year per citizen is above poverty line. 

Since Singapore is not a citizen-ownership democracy, the rightful income that every citizen is entitled to as a co-owner of Singapore has been appropriated into the state treasury. If a young child is suffering from lack of food, that is because his $9,000 has been appropriated into the state treasury. If an old woman is eking out a living as a cleaner earning a wage of $400 per month, that is because her $9,000 has been appropriated into the state treasury.

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