What Jamus said is something that most people know. You don't need to be an economist to know that you stand to gain from borrowing at low rates and investing for higher returns.
But that is also how many people start getting into trouble.
At a time when things go downhill and interest rates go up, and a government needs to focus on helping people, a WP-led Government will be scrambling to refinance all their mortgages.
Jamus made that recommendation because like his teammates in WP, he thinks good times will last forever.
That is also why their other policy proposals look at surpluses accumulated as a result of exceptional factors, and they think that year after year, the same bountiful surplus will be reaped. So they tell voters that a GST hike is not needed.
The PAP Government does not work this way.
The Government does not borrow for daily needs. These must be paid for by income earned.
By exercising prudence, and having fiscally sound policies, the Singapore Government has earned themselves a Triple-A credit rating which will alow them to borrow at favourable rates while freeing up our reserves to be invested for higher returns.
The Government may in the future, borrow for very large infrastructure projects. A new Bill introduced in April 2021 will pave the way for the Government to pay for major national infrastructure projects through borrowing, something that has not been done since the 1990s.
If a government is not prudent, even if interest rates have gone down, it will not be able to borrow at low rates. Sri Lanka is the example to look at. With its credit worthiness graded as junk, you think they can borrow billions at low rates?
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