Ganesh Sahathevan

According to the CPF Annual Report 2007: As at 31 Dec 2007 members contributions of $S 136,586,858,000 were applied primarily to special issues of Singapore Government securities of $S 111,520,180,000. (http://mycpf.cpf.gov.sg/CPF/About-Us/Ann-Rpt/Ann_Report) According to the International Monetary Fund: Gross debt is issued to the Central Provident Fund (CPF) and as part of the Singapore Government Securities (SGS) program. The government invests the proceeds raised through this issuance in foreign assets through the Government of Singapore Investment Corporation. http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2006/cr06150.pdf The GSIC manages all reserves(defined to include the CPF and Government surpluses; see story below). Therefore, the GSIC's funds under management would include funds from the CPF as well as the "official" foreign reserves, which at January 2009 amounted to $S 251 770 600 000 (http://www.mas.gov.sg/data_room/reserves_statistics/Official_Foreign_Reserves.ht...

It has been recently reported that Singapore's GIC has lost about $S 50 billion in value, while Temasek’s assets “shrunk “ by about $S 38 billion. The losses are thought to be unrealised. How might these losses affect Central Provident Fund (CPF) members in need of liquidity, whose demands may require liquidation of these impaired assets? The connection between the CPF, Temasek and GIC is best explained by these excerpts from articles published in the Business Times Singapore: The Republic's foreign reserves rose again in May to reach S$60.5 billion, up from S$59.3 billion in April. Though the May rise was marginal, the reserves of S$60.5 billion represent a creditable 19.6 per cent expansion over May last year…… The bulging reserves stem from accumulated CPF savings , the annual budgetary surpluses, surpluses from statutory bodies and the yearly balance of payments surpluses attributable to inflows of monetary capital and foreign investment. The nation, particularly t...