Singapore to appoint new national pension fund chairperson
Ms. Yong Ying-I will replace Mr. Chiang Chie Foo as the chairperson of Singapore’s national pension fund, the Central Provident Fund (CPF) today.
Expect the new chair to continue the CPF’s policy initiative that include raising the retirement age, increasing CPF pension contributions, and extending COVID-19 pandemic support. These policies are aimed to bolster an ageing Singaporean workforce, strengthening their retirement adequacy and business foundations for older work employment. In addition, expect Ms. Yong Yin-I to pursue innovative policy initiatives, such as continuing the CPF student outreach program that incentivizes education through a “game on” approach. On the other hand, Ms. Yong Ying-I also aims to further digitize CPF services, improving the new electronic fund management portal PayNow thereby increasing public service efficiency.
While increasing CPF pensions does indeed protect aging workers, negative effects on income are possible. Mandatory pension contributions in Singapore already stand at the highest globally, amounting to 37% compared to the 18.4% global average. As such, a further increase of mandatory pension payments will decrease discretionary incomes, weakening post-COVID-19 recovery growth in the short- and medium-term.
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