Statistics for Econs

Singapore’s expected GDP growth in 2009 is forecasted to be between -2.0 – 1.0% as of 2 Jan 2009.

For residents of Singapore, income tax rates are as follows:

For YA 2007 onwards

Chargeable Income	Rate (%)	Gross Tax Payable ($)
First $20,000 Next $10,000	0 3.50	0 350
First $30,000 Next $10,000	- 5.50	350 550
First $40,000 Next $40,000	- 8.50	900 3 400
First $80,000 Next $80,000	- 14	4 300 11 200
First $160,000 Next $160,000	- 17	15 500 27 200
First $320,000 Above $320,000	- 20	42 700

For YA 2008, a personal income tax rebate of 20%, up to a maximum of $2,000 is granted.
For YA 2009, a personal income tax rebate of 20%, up to a maximum of $2,000 is granted.

For (not newly started) companies, the corporate tax rates are as follows:

Tax Rates for Companies for Year of Assessment 2008 and for those who do not qualify for the New Start up exemption rates

Amount of chargeable income	Effective tax rate
First $10,000	4.5%
Next $290,000	8.5%
In excess of $300,000	17%

And with regards to employment:

For the whole of 2008, total employment increased by 227,200, driven by strong gains earlier in the year. This is slightly lower than the increase of 234,900 in 2007.

For the whole year of 2008, the unemployment rate averaged 2.3% (overall) and 3.2% (resident), up from 2.1% and 3.0% respectively in 2007. This is the first time that the annual average unemployment rate has increased since 2003, when it peaked at 4.0% (overall) and 5.2% (resident). On average, 62,900 residents were unemployed in 2008, compared with 56,700 in 2007.

And Price Levels:

Compared with January 2008, the CPI in January 2009 rose by 2.9 per cent due mainly to higher costs of housing, food and “recreation& others”.

Wonderful year ahead.