The relentless rising cost of living in Singapore
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http://theonlinecitizen.com/2007/08/...-in-singapore/
The relentless rising cost of living in Singapore
Posted by theonlinecitizen on August 27th, 2007
The following is a collated list of price increases which TOC could find – from various news reports, blogs, websites, forums, etc – since Jan 2006 to the present.
If we have left out any, please do let us know. If you have observed any price hikes around your neighbourhood (or anywhere else) please let us know also.
We can be reached at
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The list may not be comprehensive and any clarification is welcome.
2006
Jan 9: Pump prices at all 29 Caltex stations will go up from 11pm on Monday night. Prices will go up by four cents per litre for all three grades. (link)
Feb 13: Polytechnics and ITE increase fees by $50 and $10 respectively (link)(link)
Feb 14: NTU, NUS to raise tuition fees by 3% from next academic year. Tuition fees at both the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University will go up by S$180 for the next academic year. This 3 percent increase comes on the heels of a 5 percent hike just last year. (link)
Mar 6: Expect annual tuition fee increases. Hostel fees will also go up by 10% to 11% from next academic year. (NTU) (link)
Mar 9: Retail pump prices for Synergy petrol and diesel at all Esso and Mobil service stations in Singapore were increased by 6 cents a litre. (link) (link)
June 1: NTUC Car Co-Op raises fuel surcharge: We cannot continue subsidizing the fuel price increase in the long run without compromising the quality of service. Thus, the management has decided to implement a fuel surcharge of $0.30 for every 10km free with effect from 1 June 2006. (link)
June 27: Electricity tariff to go up next quarter. Domestic users, for example, will have to pay 21.15 cents for every kWH of electricity, up from 20.49 cents currently. (link)
July 10: Comfort Delgro raises taxi fares. Besides raising the flag down fare and the peak hour surcharge from $1 to $2, ComfortDelgro is also making distance-related adjustment. (link)(link)
July: Taxi companies raise fares. (link)(link)
July 17: SMRT hikes taxi fares. (link)
Aug: SMRT, SBS apply for fare hike. (link)
Aug: NUS hikes tuition fees by between $180, $220, and $510, depending on faculty. (link)
Aug: ERP rates to go up at six gantries, mainly at CTE. (link)
Oct: Public Transport Council approves 1.7% fare increase for bus and trains. Adult EZ-link fares for buses and trains will increase by 1 to 3 cents, which amounts to an overall fare hike of 1.7 percent. (link)
Nov: SingPost revises postage rate. (link)
Nov 12: Rates for HDB rental flats pegged to income. (link)
Dec: Govt spells out fees to be frozen. (link)
2006: Loan sharks cases rise by 19%, to 10, 221 cases. (link)
2006: A total of 419 people committed suicide in 2006, up from 346 in 2003. The suicide rate per 100,000 residents - a sobering indicator in population statistics - is also on the upswing, growing from 9.3 in 2003 to 10.3 in 2006, figures from the Registry of Births and Deaths reveal. It is the fourth straight rise in as many years. (ST, Aug 13, 2007) (link)
2006: Islandwide, home rentals climbed 10 per cent in 2006. (ST, Aug 6, 2007) (link)
2006: At Alexandra Hospital, A&E charges went up from $55 to $60, as did C-class ward charges — from $21 to $23 — and subsidised specialist outpatient clinic consultation rates, from $18 to $20. (link)
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2007/08/...-in-singapore/
2007
Jan: All diesel-driven vehicles to undergo smoke test. (link)
Jan: NUH’s A&E fee raised from $70 to $80. (link)
Jan: Skilled Foreign workers levy raised by $50, from $100 to $150, for all sectors. (link)(link)
Jan 26: SMU Law Course to cost more, NUS says it may increase fees too. (link)
Feb: KK Women’s and Children’s Hospital hikes ward treatment fees. (link)
Feb 14: Tax penalties from GST audits could increase. With the hike in Goods and Services Tax (GST) by two percentage points, tax analysts said tax penalties arising from businesses making mistakes in GST audits may also increase. (link)
Feb 25: Sunny Cove: Fees to Pulau Hantu Raised - As of 24th February 2007 (Saturday), the operator had increased the price for the chartering of boat to local water. With the price hike, all courses conducted at local water will be subjected to the increase from 25th February 2007 (Sunday) onwards. (link)
Feb 25: Eldershield premiums to go up by year’s end. (link)
April 1:Singapore Medical Association withdraws guidelines on fees. Doctors now have more flexibility to adjust their fees, following a decision by the Singapore Medical Association (SMA) to withdraw its guidelines on fees, as of 1 April. (link)
April 1: URA increase fees for Housing Developers’s Licence – from between $500 to $8,000. (link)
April 2: NUS revise car park charges. (link)
April 8: Means testing for hospital admission to start within a year. Subsidised patients that stay more than five days in a public hospital can expect some questions about their income. (link) (link)
April 11: Ikea to start charging customers for plastic bags. (ST, 11 April, 2007)
April 25: The SingaporeAmericanSchool increased tuition fees by between $425 and $1,000. (link)
April: Within hours of each other, the four petrol companies in Singapore - First Shell, then Singapore Petroleum Company (SPC), ExxonMobil and lastly Chevron - each revised its prices. The retail price of petrol and diesel rose by 10 cents. (Electric New Paper) (link) (link)
http://theonlinecitizen.com/2007/08/...-in-singapore/
April 25: The SingaporeAmericanSchool increased tuition fees by between $425 and $1,000. (link)
April: Within hours of each other, the four petrol companies in Singapore - First Shell, then Singapore Petroleum Company (SPC), ExxonMobil and lastly Chevron - each revised its prices. The retail price of petrol and diesel rose by 10 cents. (Electric New Paper) (link) (link)
May 14: NUH increase ward charges for B2 and C-class wards by $2, increases of 4 and 8 per cent. (link)
May 23: DBS raises its e-transaction fee for initial public offering (IPO) applications. Retail investors who applied for IPO shares launched on or after that date, through the local bank’s ATMs and Internet banking, were surprised that they now have to pay $2. (link)
May 29: New fee hikes at public hospitals and polyclinics. A NEW round of fee hikes is underway at most public hospitals and some polyclinics. Subsidised patients at four public hospitals will now pay $24 or $25 for every visit to a specialist clinic, up from about $21. All 18 polyclinics, which used to charge a standard consultation fee of $8 for adults, now charge anything from $8-$8.80. (link)(link)(link)
May: From milk to Milo, cooking oil to coffee, canned foods, processed foods, wheat products and more, prices have been rising recently at supermarkets and hypermarts here. (link)(link)(link)
June 1: Prices of milk go up. The price increase for condensed milk ranged from $0.10 to $0.50, which means the prices for some brands of condensed milk have gone up by nearly 45 per cent. The price increase for evaporated milk ranged from $0.15 to $0.47, marking a percentage increase of between 18 per cent to 48 per cent. (link) (link)
July 3: Resale price index for HDB flats rise 2.9% from 3 months before. (link)
June 4: Online hosiery shop increases price. There will be a overall price increase on 4th June 2007 for all brands due to increased cost of yarns and cost of shipping. (link)
June 6: Even before the Nets fee hike kicks in, a shoe shop in Parkway Parade has already started charging customers extra to cover the increase. (link)
June 7: Wholesale price of ducks goes up. The wholesale price of ducks has increased by 20 cents a kilogram. (link)