Singapore’s sovereign wealth fund (SWF) company Temasek Holdings yesterday (July 11) posted a two-year-average of only 1.6% profit, failing to meet the CPF 2.5% interest rate expectation.
For the financial year of 2017, Temasek Holdings posted a 13.4% profit only after losing 9.02% in the previous year of FY2016. In the two year of adverse swings, the SWF managing CPF monies and national reserves had only managed a 3.2% increase from US$266 billion in 2015 to US$275 billion. There is no mention of the amount of new capital injection from the Ministry of Finance.
An average of 1.6% return fails the 2.5% CPF Ordinary Account interest rate obligation of Temasek Holdings. The Prime Minister’s wife, Ho Ching, who sits as the CEO of Temasek Holdings did not make a media statement on the losses incurred.
Over in GIC, where PM Lee Hsien Loong sits as the Chairman, the SWF posted an undisclosed multi-billion losses which is estimated at S$43 billion for the financial year of 2017.
PM Lee Hsien Loong abused his authority over the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Ministry of Finance to depress CPF OA interest rate at 2.5%, which is the lowest among all state pension fund returns in the world. CPF withdrawal age has also increased from 55 years old to 65, while Retirement Sum (previously known as Minimum Sum, name change due to negative connotation) doubled from S$80,000 to S$166,000.