I filed several questions during the sitting of Parliament from 4-5 Apr 2022 to ask the Government how it is ensuring the affordability of daily necessities, goods and fuel, and helping Singaporeans to cope. I also asked the Government to consider a special additional tranche of U-Save utility rebates to help Singaporeans cope with electricity price hikes.
These are the Parliamentary Questions I filed:
To ask the Minister for Finance what studies has the Ministry conducted so far to examine how the costs of daily necessities and goods in Singapore will be impacted by recent global events such as rising commodity prices, rising global inflation, the Russia-Ukraine conflict and the COVID-19 pandemic.
To ask the Minister for Finance apart from the Assurance Package for the GST increase, what else will the Government be doing to assist needy Singaporeans to cope with the rising cost of daily necessities and goods which are non-GST related.
To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether the Committee Against Profiteering will address concerns that businesses could use reasons, other than the rise in GST, as a pretext to make unjustified price increases on essential products and services; (b) whether the Committee will publish a list of essential products and services that fall under its ambit; and (c) what actions are the Committee or the Government empowered to take against businesses engaged in profiteering.
To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether the Competition and Consumer Commission of Singapore (CCCS) has found any evidence of anti-competitive behaviour among fuel retailers to raise prices in the past two months; (b) what actions will the Government take against fuel retailers found to have engaged in anti-competitive behaviour; and (c) whether the Government has considered tapping on its petroleum reserves to ease the fuel supply crunch triggered by the Russia-Ukraine conflict and moderate pump prices.
To ask the Minister for Trade and Industry (a) whether Singapore has petroleum reserves; (b) if so, how long will our petroleum reserves last in the event of a supply cut; (c) what are the considerations for tapping on these petroleum reserves; and (d) whether the Government will consider tapping on its petroleum reserves in the event of an extended fuel supply crunch precipitated by the Russia-Ukraine conflict.
Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong and Second Minister for Trade and Industry Tan See Leng delivered Ministerial Statements on Inflation and Business Costs on 4 Apr. After the Ministerial Statements, I sought clarifications from the Ministers:
Since the Budget Statement, SP Group has announced that the electricity tariff for Apr to Jun will rise by almost 10%. With this new development, could the Government consider a special additional tranche of U-Save rebates to help Singaporeans cope with the coming electricity price hike?
I understand from the MOF Budget website that the Jan 2023 U-Save rebate is part of the Assurance Package (AP) to soften the impact of the upcoming GST hike, while the first three tranches of U-Save in 2022 are part of the Household Support Package (HSP). However, now in this handout, the Jan 2023 U-Save rebate is listed as part of the Support for Households. Can I clarify if the Jan 2023 U-Save is now part of the HSP and not the AP, and if so, shouldn’t there be an additional U-save rebate for the AP?
The full text of the exchange will be published in the Parliament Hansard within two weeks.
