Post Reply
21-40 of 47
The man behind d Jobs credit scheme: killing 3 birds with one stone is Mr Poon Hoon Yuen 39. Director for economic programmes. (A director in MOF) with his team has minister Tharman advise, give direction to d budget team on what to focus on..., thot came throught with deep discussion on how much..question is how much is needed..?.(Jobs saving....Save jobs), to give firms cash: How the novel scheme evolved into S$4.5 billion worth was a stunner for policymakers to came up with... a wage subsidy incentive for SMe companies to save jobs cap to salary upto S$2,500/-.
ST paper Sat Jan 31, 2009 (Page A29-A30) Review.Insight
It took them to realize things is not going well from Oct 2008, thus..this team has to re-focus more on how to save job cost rather then cut jobs to save cost and they started ASAP till late into d night, till budget day arrive.
It caught even analysts and businesses alike by surprise, it has to take into consideration...extra ordinanary measure to ease pain w/o cutting into CPF, cutting 12% off each workers wages cost upto S$2,500/- monthly salary.
nextdoor ( Date: 31-Jan-2009 00:01) Posted:
|
Singapore will be badly hit in this crisis...the worst is really yet to surface. Please be careful,,,,,,teeth nice post.
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090130/tap-singapore-finance-economy-jobs-06f3cb7.html Job squeeze in last quarter
Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam warned last week the country is facing its worst recession since independence 44 years ago and announced a record stimulus package of more than 13 billion US dollars.
The 7,000 workers laid off in the Oct - Dec 08 quarter compared with 2,346 employees who lost their jobs in the preceding three months and 1,966 for the same period in 2007, the ministry said. For the whole of 2008, there were 13,400 workers laid off, up from 7,675 the year before.
Employment also slowed significantly to 26,900 in the fourth quarter of last year, from 55,700 people who were hired in the preceding quarter and 62,500 in the same period in 2007.
S'pore in Oct 08 was first Asian economy to enter recession, falling victim to a global slowdown sparked by crisis in the US housing market.
teeth53 ( Date: 29-Jan-2009 20:25) Posted:
|
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090129/tts-imf-economy-growth-forecast-c1b2fc3.html
The International Monetary Fund slashed its economic growth forecasts Wednesday, predicting the severe financial crisis would brake global growth to the slowest pace in six decades.
The advanced economies were expected to contract by 2%, their first annual contraction in the post-war period and far more than the negative 0.3% the IMF estimated less than three months ago.
"Despite wide-ranging policy actions, financial strains remain acute, pulling down the real economy," the 185-nation institution said, warning its projections were made in a "highly uncertain outlook."
85,000 jobs lost in one day
Top industry leaders like Caterpillar, Philips, ING, Pfizer and General Motors are bleeding jobs. »Details
world economy was hit by a massive wave of job cuts on Monday with companies announcing plans to lay off tens of thousands of workers as US President Barack Obama warned of a crisis that could become "dramatically worse."
teeth53 ( Date: 27-Jan-2009 12:25) Posted:
|
http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/090127/world_markets.html
AP Asian markets surge on upbeat Barclays forecast Tuesday January 27, 2:21 am ET By Malcolm Foster, AP Business Writer Asian markets advance as upbeat Barclays forecast boosts optimism about banking sector BANGKOK, Thailand (AP)
-- Asian markets advanced robustly Tuesday, led by a jump of nearly 5 percent in Japan, as an upbeat earnings forecast from British bank Barclays eased worries about the health of major banks. Investors were also encouraged by Wall Street's gains Monday, while U.S. stock index futures were pointing to a strong open Tuesday in New York. The Barclays news "immediately raised hopes that banks may be able to weather the current risks facing the global financial sector," said Motomi Hiratsuka, head of sales trading at BNP Paribas in Tokyo. "
But it remains to be seen how long this (boost in sentiment) will last." Japan's Nikkei 225 jumped 378.93 points, or 4.9 percent, to 8,061.07, while Australia's S&P/ASX200 index rose 3 percent to 3,444. India's Sensex also advanced, gaining 2.8 percent to 8,913.35.
Several Asian markets, including Hong Kong and South Korea, remained shut for the Lunar New Year holiday. Markets in mainland China, Singapore, Malaysia and Taiwan were also closed.
Shares in Barclays PLC surged more than 70 percent Monday after the bank said it expects pretax profits for 2008 to be well over 5.3 billion pounds ($7.3 billion), despite 8 billion pounds of asset writedowns at its investment banking division. In a joint letter to reassure investors, the bank's Chairman Magnus Agius and Chief Executive John Varley said the bank did not need any more capital injections to cover potential losses associated with the global financial turmoil.
Dutch bank ING provided an extra fillip for banking stocks, jumping nearly 28 percent after it said it would get a government backstop for 80 percent of a 27.7 billion euro ($36.4 billion) portfolio of risky assets. Major Japanese financial stocks rose in the wake of gains in European banks. Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group jumped 8.3 percent, while Sumitomo Mitsui Financial Group Inc. rose 8.1 percent. Buoyed by the positive banking news, European markets surged overnight, with Britain's FTSE 100 gaining 3.9 percent to 4,209.01, while Germany's DAX climbed 3.5 percent at 4,326.87.
On Wall Street, the Dow Jones industrials zigzagged to a higher close, ending up 0.5 percent at 8,116.03. Stocks rose in response to Pfizer Inc.'s $68 billion planned acquisition of Wyeth, a deal that reassured investors that mergers could still take place in a recession. Dow futures were up 102 points, or 1.3 percent, to 8,139, while S&P 500 futures were up 11 points, or 1.3 percent, at 841.8. Markets in Singapore and South Korea will reopen Wednesday, and Hong Kong's markets will reopen Thursday. Trading in mainland China and Taiwan will be closed all week and resume Feb. 2.
Oil prices, meanwhile, hovered just above $46 a barrel as traders weighed waning demand and OPEC's compliance with production cuts. Light, sweet crude for March delivery was up 53 cents at $46.26 a barrel in electronic trading on the New York Mercantile Exchange. In currencies, the dollar edged up to 89.47 yen from 89.25 late Monday, while the euro was little changed at $1.3198.
AP Business writer Tomoko A. Hosaka in Tokyo contributed to this report.
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/afp_world_business/view/405058/1/.html
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/business/index.htm
President Barack Obama highlighted the urgency of the work at hand, noting that 2.5 million jobs were lost last year and seven major corporations have just announced thousands more cuts.
Electronics giant Philips and banking group ING said they were slashing 13,000 jobs worldwide as the impact of what Obama warned could be an "unprecedented" global crisis cut ever deeper.
Equipment giant Caterpillar announced that it intends to cut about 20,000 jobs worldwide to cope with plunging sales amid a sharp economic slowdown. Layoffs, equivalent to about 18% of its workforce, will include 4,000 production, 7,500 admin staff and about 8,000 contract staff
Stage is set for d two elephant to do a trading war dance on world stage...that can effect trade rippling on other smaller nation.
Obama sets stage for likely trade war with China. http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/090123/1/4lglx.html
Obama believes"The question is how and when to broach the subject in order to do more good than harm," he added. But heavy US dependence on Chinese capital may limit Obama's options against Beijing. China has overtaken Japan as America's biggest foreign creditor, and as of October 2008 held 652.9 billion dollars in US Treasury bonds, according to the latest Treasury Department figures.
China manipulating currency: Treasury pick. http://sg.biz.yahoo.com/090122/1/4lg8k.html
WASHINGTON (AFP) - - US unemployment claims hit a 26-year high and home building fell to half-century lows, data showed Thursday, highlighting the scale of the recession facing the new Obama administration, two of the worst-hit areas: the labor market and the collapsed housing sector, the epicenter of the global credit squeeze that erupted in August 2007.
For more info...click below
http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090122/tts-us-economy-unemployment-construction-972e412.html
teeth53 ( Date: 24-Jan-2009 14:17) Posted:
|
This prolong recession is expected to last for two years, the least...
World crisis deepens as downturn bites in Asia http://sg.news.yahoo.com/afp/20090122/tts-finance-economy-world-c1b2fc3.html
China's powerhouse economy slowed dramatically at the end of 2008, dragging growth of the world's third-largest economy to a seven-year low, official data showed, in a striking sign of the current downturn's strength and reach.
Japan meanwhile warned it was facing a two-year recession and announced new measures to repair battered credit markets after announcing a 35-percent plunge in exports in December.
"Exports tumbled so much that you cannot believe your eyes," said Naoki Murakami, chief economist at Monex Securities in Japan.
Thk to him This budget is to save cost to keep jobs & not cut jobs to save cost..Ya
Mr Tharman said: "The Resilience Package aims to save jobs to the maximum extent possible in the recession, and to help viable companies stay afloat. It also prepares Singapore to emerge with strength when the global economy recovers, and enhances our capabilities and competitiveness for the long term.
"The Resilience Package will not get us out of the recession, as long as the global economy continues to contract, but it will help avert an even sharper downturn, and more lasting damage to the economy." - CNA/vm
teeth53 ( Date: 22-Jan-2009 21:30) Posted:
|
Hi Tinpeng...Fully agree with ur thot...real bad time this years, save jobs, save compaines, keep cost down, Minister Tharman think prolong recession is about two years, plus plus. We don't had a choice
http://www.channelnewsasia.com/stories/singaporelocalnews/view/404182/1/.html (for more info...)
Singaporean is likely to experience the deepest recession since its independence, arising from the worst global economic decline in 60 years.
for the first time, the government will be dipping into its reserves to draw S$4.9 billion to fund two temporary and extraordinary measures. They are the Jobs Credit and a Special Risk-Sharing Initiative. The highly expansionary budget will result in a S$8.7 billion deficit, the country's largest deficit ever.
Delivering his Budget Speech in Parliament on Thursday, Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam said the multi-billon dollar plan, called the Resilience Package, will go into five main areas.
S$5.1 billion will go towards preserving jobs; S$5.8 billion to stimulate bank lending; S$2.6 billion for various tax measures to improve cash flow; S$2.6 billion to help households though moves like personal income tax rebates; S$4.4 billion to bring forward infrastructure spending plus health and education improvements.
The government will help employers with their wage bills by giving a 12% cash grant on, to cover the first S$2,500 earned by each employee on the CPF payroll. "By designing Jobs Credit" to help lower income segment of the labour force, the government will tweak the Workfare Income Supplement (WIS) with an additional 50% payment. For example, someone aged 50 years old, taking home a S$1,000 a month will get S$1,200 dollars a year under Workfare, another S$600 dollars. The government will also relax the eligibility criteria for the Workfare Special Payment to include odd job workers. In all, the temporary WIS special payment will cost the government S$150 million.
The scheme, called Jobs Credit, is for a year and will be paid out very quarter, starting from March. This'll be equivalent to a 9% point cut to the Central Provident Fund (CPF)
In all, Singapore has unveiled a massive S$20.5 billion plan in its 2009 Budget to help Singaporeans keep jobs and viable companies stay afloat.
S'pore GDP revised down from -2% +1% to -5% t -2%, real cool...ya.
Singapore revises down 2009 growth forecast, inflation rate  |
| Posted : 21 Jan 2009 0802 hrs |
Full Story » |
Singapore's trade to decline by 17% to 19% in 2009
Singapore inflation up 6.5% for '08 but expectations lower for '09
teeth53 ( Date: 19-Jan-2009 23:54) Posted:
|
We dig...we pay more...we dig more...we pay somemore, nothing less...Sad..Ya Tax n more tax coming our way by mean of....they is many ways to do it.thik..tink..happy noe n spend now..Ya pay later.
Absolutely, the reserve, in simple form, belongs to ALL Ssngaporean, be us rich or poor! How it will be used, we have noooooo say at all... 
teeth53 ( Date: 19-Jan-2009 22:46) Posted:
|
Can u please explain why the blue chips will cheong if dip into the reserves? I thought the reserves are in shares, properties, bonds and all sorts of things which I don't understand, so in order to dip into the reserves, they have to sell things, such as power stations and blue chips?
nickyng ( Date: 19-Jan-2009 14:08) Posted:
|
Well...Let say this will be d 1st time digging into gold pot for Singaporean. I can OSO gurantee U, there will be 2nd time around to dig into d gold pot n d 3rd n 4th times n so on...matter of when ONI.
nickyng ( Date: 19-Jan-2009 14:08) Posted:
|
ur guesses as gd as mine :P hey! if garment wanna dip into reserve...our bluechips shld b cheonging leh! how come all start to turn RED after the other since morning trade? hmm.... :D
Farmer ( Date: 19-Jan-2009 12:47) Posted:
|
Lets not be too speculative on the reasons as now is the raining seasons everywhere and our only reserve is cash other than human beings which can't rely on as many will be out of job.
To me, the BIG questions are: how much they propose to draw out and to fund what purposes? I think it will be answered during the coming budget session.