Chan Chun Sing's Response To The Call To Spend, Spend, Spend Our Reserves

You wonder why the government seems obsessed with economic growth and GDP. Well, if they do not accumulate resources now, when the proportion of greying people increases while the size of the workforce shrinks, the burden on the young working population at that time will be great. 

Growing rich before growing old so that there are resources to take care of the elderly - this is called long term planning in the interests of Singaporeans. 

It's really not very difficult to understand. An individual needs to accumulate enough savings while he is young and still able to work so that when he retires, he can be assured of his needs being met. 

Likewise a country needs to accumulate enough resources, while it is still young, for the time when spending increases because it is ageing (greater healthcare expenditure for the elderly, etc) and revenue from taxes falls due to a smaller workforce. Otherwise the government of the day will have to impose a very heavy tax burden on the working population. 

But today, we have many populist politicians from different opposition parties who want to dip their hands into the reserves to spend, spend, spend. They think we are rich! Unlike countries that have natural resources that they can sell for revenue, we have nothing but our finite reserves which also serve as our strategic resources in times of crisis.

To those who promise “to use the reserves to do this and that”, Mr Chan said the Government was saving up funds for the future generation. “With our ageing population, we don’t want our young to be burdened with the need to take care of a large ageing population if we have not saved up. This is being responsible, this is about long-term thinking.”

Otherwise, in 2030, he said: “Our young would have to shoulder the burden of all challenges themselves and some might decide they have a better future elsewhere.”