“Cost of Living”


We implore you to find the word inflation anywhere in a local article anywhere in the Singapore papers. Maybe the Chinese newspapers are reporting it, but OTBM certainly cannot find it anywhere in the Straits Times or the Business Times. Instead, the lexicon that seems to be in use in inflation’s place is “higher cost of living.”

Has the cost of living gone up? According to the IHT, inflation has been steadily increasing in Singapore since 2005, although there was a slight dip in 2006 (that’s according to the Monetary Authority of Singapore). A strong economy provides some natural inflationary pressure, and according to the MAS again, the year and year increase in 2007 was around 3.6%. That is just a bit above what you want it to be, and is not too much cause for alarm, even if it was a 16 year high. Check the latest figures on inflation and see whether the record has been broken. We think it has been smashed.

Why do the main broadsheets insist on calling it the “higher cost of living?” Is it because the think we have some magical control over our economy and that using the word inflation would cause some sort of irrational outcome? Like people queuing to buy oil or withdraw their money? Nobody knows.

Many people have been documenting the rising cost of living in Singapore. Daniel Chin, who writes a blog on land transport in Singapore, says that bus fares are increasing, and that Singapore might even have created a first by being the only place in the world where bus fares are more expensive that train fares.

Everybody knows about the recent taxi fare hikes and the accompanying “mass boycott” of taxis. OTBM spoke to a taxi driver but a week ago who said that it was the first time in 15 years during his evening shift that he left the CBD without picking up a passenger.

The bundle of taxi fare increases means that it is impossible to determine what the average increase is, but people put it anywhere between 10-35%. ERP gantries are taking on the characteristics of the highway bougainvilleas – they are popping up over the place. All in, the point is that transport fares have increased significantly. And rightly so, pushed by increased fuel costs and rising demand.

We are years ahead of other cities by introducing the ERP, in fact, we are big supporters of it, since it is the most progressive form of road taxation. We say ERP-ise the whole island and abolish road tax.

More importantly, household items are on the rise as well.

So inflation is on the rise, so what? Well, OTBM are just a couple of untrained economists, but our spider-sense is tingling. And it is telling us that inflation will rise even further. Let the inflation watch begin.