Speaking in Parliament today (Nov 8), Second Minister for Finance Lawrence Wong came out to defend the underperformance and losses made by sovereign wealth fund company GIC where dictator Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong is Chairman. Minister Lawrence Wong said that it is okay for GIC to underperform below other sovereign wealth fund companies:
“It is not meaningful to compare the GIC with sovereign wealth funds of different entities globally as they have different mandates, risk profiles and operating constraints.”
In 2017, GIC covered up the actual amount but hinted an estimated S$43 billion losses. The invested losses come from the country’s national reserves and Singapore CPF account holders, in the form of cheap bonds known as SGSS (Special Government Securities) borrowed at 2.5%.
Minister Lawrence Wong insisted that GIC making tens of billions of losses is “long term”:
“Although returns on developed market equities surged in recent years, sovereign wealth fund GIC lowered its weightage on these assets because of the considerable uncertainties” they present. One can take a short-term view, of course, and say, ‘let’s play the short-term game’ … But GIC invests in the long-term. In situations where there is market exuberance, like now, GIC correctly, we think, takes the view that is more conservative and reduces its weightage on DM (developed market) equities accordingly.”
Without giving any example or provide any evidence, Lawrence Wong lied in Parliament claiming all investments made by GIC is “not risky”:
“GIC is not a short-term player and takes a more conservative view in building up its portfolio. The GIC’s portfolio has a more diversified asset composition and lower exposure to developed market equities. The increasingly stretched valuations have prompted reduced allocation to this class of assets in recent years.”
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong did not make any comment at the debate despite him being the Chairman of GIC. The corrupted Prime Minister controls puppet president Halimah Yacob, the Monetary Authority of Singapore, Ministry of Finance, GIC and Temasek Holdings where his wife is CEO.