In response to criticisms on the CPF system, the Ministry of Finance defended the broken retirement system claiming it is a “key pillar of social security system”:
“The CPF is a key pillar of Singapore’s social security system, and works alongside highly subsidised home ownership, education and skills training, and health and medical services. Additional help for the less well-off come in the form of Workfare and Silver Support.”
Without providing any figures, the finance ministry also claimed that poor people in Singapore gets S$4 of benefits for every dollar of direct tax they pay. However the ministry gave a half-truth as it was referring to GST taxes, and omitted indirect taxes like COE prices and mandatory CPF contribution pressuring prices:
“Singapore’s overall taxes and transfers system is progressive in design. Low-income households received almost S$4 of benefits for every dollar of tax paid last year, versus the S$2 of benefits middle-income households got for the same tax contribution.”
The anonymous spokesperson for Ministry of Finance then told state media reporters in her conclusion:
“All in all, we achieve progressivity in our social policies from the implementation of various programmes and schemes throughout a person’s life stages.”
Singapore’s CPF system has the lowest withdrawal payout among all retirement systems in the world, paying as low as S$600 a month for a blue-collar worker who worked for at least 40 years. CPF also pays the lowest interest rates at 2.5% per year when compared to other retirement funds.
Corrupted Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong uses the CPF funds as cheap loans to make high risk gambles around the world. The dictator PM has free access to the CPF funds and dictate the CPF withdrawal barriers through his control of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Ministry of Finance, puppet president Halimah Yacob and his position as Chairman of GIC and his wife’s position as CEO of Temasek Holdings.
GIC post record losses, at least S$43 billion losses in FY2016/2017