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SINGAPORE - President Halimah Yacob has given her approval for a law that will allow the Government to borrow for major long-term infrastructure, the first time such loans will be allowed since the framework for protecting Singapore’s reserves was established in 1991.
As custodian of the country's past savings, all proposals on borrowing must be carefully scrutinised by President Halimah, and the Government can raise loans only after she has given the nod.
"This is a prudent and considered approach. Borrowing obliges future generations to make good what the current generation has committed to, failing which, the burden naturally falls on our past reserves," she said after she gave her assent to the Bill for the Significant Infrastructure Government Loan Act (Singa) on Monday (June 7).
Under the new law passed by Parliament in May, the Government will be able to borrow up to $90 billion to pay for infrastructure that will last for at least 50 years.
The annual interest threshold of such borrowings cannot exceed $5 billion, and each project funded under the law must be sizeable and cost at least $4 billion.
Describing Singa as an "important waypoint" under the reserves protection framework, Madam Halimah said the law will allow the Government to distribute fiscal responsibility more equitably across the generations who will benefit from the projects.
"I am glad that parliamentarians had a robust debate during last month's second reading of the Singa Bill," she added.
Explaining her decision to give her assent, she said the Government had briefed her and the Council of Presidential Advisers on the proposal, and assured her that there would be safeguards to make sure the borrowing is done in a sustainable and responsible manner so that future generations of Singaporeans will not be saddled with overly onerous financing costs.
The President noted that this is important as it would help to mitigate the risk of future draws on Singapore's past reserves due to such borrowings.
"Singapore has, thanks to the wisdom of past leadership and good governance, accumulated our national reserves over many past generations. We similarly owe it to our future generations to steward these reserves responsibly," she added.
During the debate on the law in Parliament in May, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat, who was also Finance Minister then, said Singapore was embarking on a "generational upgrade" to its infrastructure over the next 15 years, and borrowing to pay for the major infrastructure projects will help to smooth out the hump expected in development spending.
With major highways, the Cross Island and Jurong Region MRT lines, and climate adaptation structures in the works, Singapore expects its yearly development expenditure to rise to around 5 per cent of gross domestic product, compared with the current base line of 3.7 per cent.
Singa will help to lower the yearly figure to 4.2 per cent for the next decade.
https://www.straitstimes.com/singap...-to-law-that-lets-government-borrow-for-major
