S'poreans travel and can 'live like kings' on strong dollar
People in Singapore are travelling more often as the SGD is the strongest it has been in more than a decade against the US dollar.
Following Prime Minister Lawrence Wong's highlight on the importance of a strong currency in helping the Republic combat inflation, the SGD-USD exchange rate on Aug 26 hit the highest level since 2014.
As the dollar also remains high against the Indonesian rupiah and Japanese yen, people in Singapore are travelling more, Bloomberg quoted Alchemist Travel co-founder Lauren Raps as saying.
“Dining out here can be quite expensive," she noted, adding that "their dollar goes further and they can live like kings” in places such as Bali, Indonesia or Bangkok.
While Singaporeans rejoice over the better travel prospects, hotels and restaurants are feeling the pinch.
“Some retail and food and beverage players here are feeling the heat,” said Makansutra founder KF Seetoh, referring to the higher number of Singaporeans spending their money elsewhere, such as Indonesia and Malaysia, “where lifestyle and culture is pretty similar, except way cheaper”, he said.
Equally happy about the strong Singapore dollars are the Americans expats.
“I have to say, right now is an excellent time to buy US dollars to pay Uncle Sam,” American expat Jim Lee, who has to pay American taxes, told Bloomberg.
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