Singaporeans are among the wealthiest people in the world; and over the next five years, the number of millionaires living here is expected to soar some 60 percent to 249,000, reported The Business Times.
According to a recent Credit Suisse wealth report, while the city-state’s total wealth this year slipped by 2.5 percent or US$25 billion (S$30.76 billion) to US$1 trillion (S$1.23 trillion), it is still the third richest in Asia and eighth globally.
This is in comparison to last year, when Singapore ranked second behind Australia and was the fifth wealthiest globally.
The drop is mainly attributed to a decline in household financial assets measured in US dollars. The report defines household wealth as all assets – physical, property and financial – minus debt.
During the period under review, the Singapore dollar went down 4.3 percent and domestic stock market capitalisation fell by 8.2 percent, but home prices rose two percent. In addition, the number of millionaires in Singapore declined by nine percent to 156,000 from 165,000.
Nonetheless, this is only a small setback as Credit Suisse expects that in the next five years, Singapore millionaires will surge over 60 percent to 249,000, thanks to positive forecasts and continuing wealth growth.
“Singapore is a well-managed economy with high savings rate, and we are confident that the conduct of economic and exchange rate policy would sustain medium-term economic growth,” said Chew Soon Gek, Head of Strategy and Economic Research, (Private Banking Asia Pacific) at Credit Suisse.
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