Singaporeans on the cost of living | What Do You Think? - video Dailymotion

AsiaOne

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.

Transcript

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?

Singaporeans on the cost of living | What Do You Think?

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