Stuff I saw while scrolling through Singapore's 2024 expenditure estimates

I've not been feeling in tip-top condition this week and am planning to take as much of the weekend off as possible to rest and recharge. But I didn't want to leave people hanging without a We, The Citizens weekend wrap, so decided to keep this week's update short while having a bit of fun. (I did send out an Altering States newsletter, though, if you want to check that out.)

As you probably already know, Lawrence Wong, deputy prime minister and finance minister, delivered the Budget last week. I've been poking around the revenue and expenditure estimates—a very long PDF, you've been warned—and thought I'd share some of the things that leapt out at me. This isn't a full commentary because I haven't necessarily formulated my thoughts on everything (my brain is struggling to brain right now), so these are just things that, for better or worse, made me go, "Huh..." or "Eh?"

Here we go!

Stuff I saw while scrolling through this PDF for an hour

• The government expects to collect $19.39 billion in GST this year—4.2% more than the revised amount for 2023
• Once again, we gonna make lots of money from smokers and drinkers... (although I've not deducted the amount of money we met end up spending in healthcare when people get lung cancer or liver failure, so...)
  • Estimated revenue from excise duty imposed on tobacco in 2024: $1,141,405,000
    • In 2024, it is estimated that a maximum of 9% of Singaporeans between the ages of 18 and 74 will smoke on a daily basis
  • Estimated revenue from excise and customs duty imposed on liquor in 2024: $793,255,000 + $10,448,000 = $803,703,000
• Please don't anyhow drive, the government estimates they'll be collecting $50,545,000 in traffic fines this year

• The president has 26 butlers?
• I don't understand the differences in "International & Public Relations, Public Communications" budgets across different government agencies or ministries...
  • The Attorney-General's Chambers has an estimated 2024 PR budget of $3,193,300? The Ministry of Home Affairs's estimated 2024 PR budget is $91,395,400, while Parliament's is $361,800. But the Ministry of Defence's estimated 2024 PR budget is only $20,500? Sure anot?
• It's estimated that the amount of domestic waste disposed of per capita will be about 0.78kg per person per day
• The Ministry of Foreign Affairs's summation of their 2023 activities with regard to what's happening in Gaza:

To support the work of our Representative to the Palestinian Authority who is resident in Singapore and to better coordinate our technical assistance to the Palestinian Authority, we opened a Singapore Representative Office in Ramallah headed by an Honorary Director in October 2022. We also opened an Embassy in Tel Aviv, to strengthen the multi -faceted cooperation between Singapore and Israel. In response to the dire humanitarian situation in Gaza, MFA contributed $300,000 to the Singapore Red Cross’ public appeal for Gaza, as well as worked with our stakeholders to organise a RSAF relief flight ferrying life -saving supplies for civilians in Gaza in November 2023. Second Minister (Foreign Affairs) (Education) Dr Mohamad Maliki Osman also witnessed the handover of aid for Gaza, raised by the Singapore public, in Cairo in November 2023.

• MFA's brief projection for 2024 on the same issue:

The Israel-Hamas conflict is likely to remain protracted. We will continue to work with our partners and stakeholders to explore opportunities for the provision of further humanitarian assistance to Gaza. We will also continue to support the Palestinian Authority’s capacity building efforts through the Enhanced Technical Assistance Package.

• 17% of Singapore residents between the ages of 18 and 74 were found to have poor mental health in 2022. New data will be ready in early 2025.
• Some of these ministries have interesting names for projects, although it's not clear what these projects actually are. Here are some projects under the Ministry of Home Affairs, and their total project cost (spread over years):
  • Project Arapaima: $319,629,100
  • Pandora Box: $13,594,600
  • Revelation: $10,435,100
• The Singaporean bureaucrat's love for acronyms and initialisms—however forced—will endure forever. Someone came up with the Computerised Investigation Management System 3 (total project cost: $60,659,600) and named it CRIMES3. How does that work... ComputeRised Investigation ManagEment System 3?
• It's estimated that 79% of Singaporean residents will go to at least one arts and culture event this year, and total museum visitorship will be at 3.8 million.
• Shorthand writers are a small, but hopefully cherished, minority in various government agencies. But possibly a dying breed...

That's it from me for this weekend! If you have some time, you might want to have your own go scrolling through these documents—let me know what leapt out at you!