With Singapore’s Goods & Services Tax rising from 7% to 9% across two years, AsiaOne conducted a survey to find out what people thought about the cost of living in Singapore.
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00:00I don't really feel that worried about the cost of living.
00:02Oh yeah, the food here, oh my god.
00:04$4 come to $5, $6.
00:07Yeah, definitely cut back on daily expenses.
00:09Previously, I take 3-4 meals a day.
00:12Now, I take 2 meals.
00:13So I cut something already.
00:14I'm supposed to go for 3 concerts, but I only go for 1.
00:17For the 9th time in 11 years,
00:19Singapore has once again topped the annual World Cost of Living Survey
00:23done by the EIU.
00:24The Singapore government has responded with an article saying
00:28its consumption basket may not reflect what Singaporeans usually consume
00:32and is therefore not a good gauge of cost of living for Singaporean households.
00:36The survey results instead act as more of a guide for HR managers
00:40to calculate allowances and compensation packages.
00:43Despite Singapore's GST rate rising from 7% to 9% across two years,
00:47it's still one of the lowest in Southeast Asia,
00:49with Cambodia and the Philippines at 10% and 12% respectively.
00:53But with the recent GST hike and the cost of utilities such as
00:56gas, electricity and water set to rise,
00:59we wanted to find out if Singaporeans are feeling the pinch yet,
01:02and if so, what are we doing to combat these price hikes?
01:05Asia 1 did a survey with more than 1,200 Singaporeans
01:09and found that more than 3 in 4 respondents
01:12were concerned about the cost of living in the next 6 months.
01:15This was an increase of 3 percentage points from our last two polls
01:19in July 2022 and January 2023.
01:2215% also said that they were not concerned,
01:25while the remainder were unsure.
01:27Among those who were concerned, the cost of food,
01:30followed by healthcare, transport and non-food daily necessities
01:33were cited as the main reasons why.
01:36For those who were not concerned,
01:37the main reasons were that they had no major financial commitments,
01:41they had a stable job with good income,
01:43and or they had sufficient savings.
01:45More than half of respondents indicated that
01:48among the fee and price hikes in 2023,
01:50electricity and gas tariffs had the greatest impact on them.
01:54This was far ahead of public transport fare and water price increases.
01:58To expand on these sentiments,
02:00we headed out to ask Singaporeans more about
02:02how they are coping with these changes.
02:04Yes, of course I'm very concerned about our cost of living.
02:07Yes, I am.
02:08Yes.
02:09I guess so, yeah.
02:10Of course.
02:10Yes.
02:11Yes, of course.
02:12Everything is rising.
02:13I don't really feel that worried about the cost of living.
02:16We are all retirees,
02:17so we are very concerned about the food and transportation.
02:21I think food and transportation.
02:24So I have two young kids, so I think probably their education.
02:28Mainly I think food-wise and also keeping up with your job.
02:32For me, it's mostly food, transport and education.
02:34Everything's going up, my income, source of income, so it stays the same.
02:38The rise in GST is 9%,
02:40but out of nowhere, the food market prices is like $4 to $4.50.
02:45Oh yes, the food here, oh my god.
02:47It has increased tremendously.
02:49$4 come to $5, $6, I cannot afford.
02:53I will adjust to rising cost of living by, you know,
02:56cutting down on daily expenses.
02:59I will try to take away some of our luxuries.
03:03Night outs and dinners out, you know, try to reduce that.
03:07Definitely cut back on daily expenses.
03:09For me, because within NUS, we have shuttle buses that are free,
03:12so I've been trying to take that more instead of public transport.
03:15Other things is also like cutting back on my daily expenses, definitely.
03:18I mean, my coffee right now is not a very good example,
03:20but usually I try not to get it.
03:21I will cut back on my daily expenses and also cut back on non-essentials.
03:25And also definitely look out for life hacks and discounts.
03:28Oh yes, we do.
03:30Like, you know, nowadays we try to eat out, we will cook less.
03:34Previously I take three, four meals a day.
03:37Now I take two meals.
03:39So I cut something already what.
03:40I've been trying to eat out less.
03:42Shopping and food, because we used to go to restaurants quite often
03:48and then we start to realise that prices are no longer that friendly now.
03:51I'm a big fan of shopping online.
03:54I have reduced that quite a bit.
03:55I'm supposed to go for three concerts, but I only go for one.
03:58I think it's the gas and electricity, it's the most concern.
04:01Utilities, for sure.
04:03Transport, because I need very bad transport to go to the hospital, to polyclinic.
04:09I don't want and I cannot be able to spend so much money on all this transport.
04:14Both of us, our answer would be the public transport.
04:16Yeah, because we recently have been taking more public transport
04:19and we're actually quite surprised to see that it's quite a big amount.
04:22I do receive some government subsidies
04:24but I know most of the time my parents will take it away.
04:27Childcare fees, school fees are heavily subsidised
04:29but it's still an amount to pay for.
04:31I do receive CDC vouchers.
04:34Sometimes there's rebates for water bills and also gas bills.
04:39So that definitely does help.
04:41CDC voucher is $500, $250 to $250.
04:46If today you go and buy NTC things, it's expensive.
04:50You bring $100 also, you'll finish in one day.
04:53You buy other goods, go to radio shop, you buy a fan or whatever it is,
04:57you want to buy a cooker also, $100.
05:00How long can the $250 last you?
05:03As expected, of the people we interviewed,
05:05the majority of them were concerned about the rising cost of living.
05:09Similar to the survey, food and transport costs were the two most common concerns,
05:14which is why government assistance schemes like CDC and GSC vouchers
05:18have been introduced to help defray expenses.
05:21Based on our respondents,
05:22hikes in utility and transport prices had the largest impact on them.
05:27Echoing the findings from our cost of living survey,
05:30cutting down on non-essentials was the go-to option
05:32for coping with the rising cost of living.
05:35So, what do you think?