Singapore’s PM Lee Hsien Loong says reserves adequate for ‘most circumstances’, warns against unnecessary drawdowns
- Prime Minister Lee has called for prudent use of Singapore’s reserves as it is unlikely to reap the same scale of savings and investment returns as in the past
- He said that Singapore should continue to build its reserves to ensure that the next generation is in a more secure position
In an interview with the national broadcaster CNA, Lee suggested the biggest public “misconception” about the reserves was that there was “such a thing as enough” given that the scale of future crises is unknown.
“However much there is, I keep on having this attitude that I would like to build it up a little bit more when I can, so that the next generation will be in a more secure position than I am today,” Lee said in the interview released on YouTube and to be aired on television later on Wednesday.
Lee’s remarks are some of the most extensive by a public official about the republic’s much-vaunted reserves, built up since the days when his late father Lee Kuan Yew served as prime minister.
The total size of the reserves is deliberately undisclosed to guard against speculative attacks on the Singapore dollar, but observers have said the sum is likely to be well over US$1 trillion.
