Rwanda - Becoming Africa's Singapore

Whenever anyone hears about Rwanda, images and thoughts of the horrible 1994 genocide surfaces to the mind.  Back in 1994, the majority Hutu massacred an estimated 500,000 to 1 million Tutsi.  More than 2 million people fled the country into neighboring countries until order was restored.

It is therefore hard for anyone to imagine that economic transformation is under way after more than 25 years since the horrible incident.  But Rwanda has taken long strides since then. Under the leadership of ex-military strongman, Paul Kagame, the country seems to have picked itself up since 2000 is making steady progress towards becoming Africa's Singapore.

Under Paul Kagame, a Vision 2020 was set to develop Rwanda into a knowledge-based middle class country by 2020.  Kagame sought extensive advice from various experts outside of his country.  And it seems like good progress is being made.

Amongst the reforms that have been brought about, one of them includes keeping Rwanda clean.  It is illegal to use plastic bags in Rwanda and bringing in plastic bags is an offence.  Talk about dedication to sustainability efforts!  Rwanda

Here is a good informative video on Rwanda.  The Singapore of Africa perhaps?

Any Rwandans reading this post?  Please leave a comment below.  Will definitely want to hear more.

Read More Links Don't Work After Migrating to New Template

 This blog post is a test.  

After migrating to a new template,  most of the links in both featured post and blog post do not work. 

Testing to see if the same issue occurs for a brand new post under the new template. 

Hopefully,  this works. 

Car Ownership Cost in Singapore - Parking

Of the many car ownership costs in Singapore, the cost of parking probably varies the most.

How much does parking cost in Singapore? Well it really depends. 

Firstly, it depends on where you are staying. If you are staying in  landed property, there is zero parking costs involved. If you are stay in a condo/private apartment, probably no parking costs incurred too (if you keep within the limits of the number of cars).  

How Much is CPF Retirement Sum

CPF Retirement Sum.  Easy yet complicated.

Fact #1 - For your retirement needs

Firstly, to withdraw money from your CPF at age 55, you are required to meet the CPF retirement sum.  At the age of 55, one's money in the Ordinary Account and Special Account are swept into the Retirement Account.

Civil Service Bonus for 2020

Straits Times reported lately that civil servants will not be getting a year end bonus this year due to Covid 19.  There was also no mid-year bonus paid out.

Civil servants received a one off payment of 0.25 months which was capped at $750 as well as their 13th month bonus.  This year, senior civil servants also had a pay cut of 0.5 to 1 month according to their seniority.

Not all gloom and doom though.  Civil servants still enjoy a performance bonus that is outside of the mid-year and year-end bonus.  An average performer should get around 3 months worth of performance bonus according to anonymous feedback in various forums.  So taking that into account, civil servant's annual pay package for this year should be around 16 months of monthly salary.  That is assuming one is an average performer.

Interested in civil service payscale? Check out this link here https://sgfinancialfreedom.blogspot.com/2015/10/singapore-civil-service-pay-scale.html

MHA Bonus?

Grab and Gojek merger rumours

There has been various reports that Grab and Gojek are making progress in talks to merge both companies. 

Based on estimates, Grab is valued at US$15 billion and Gojek is valued at US$10 billion.  The rival companies are both loss-making and are two of Southeast Asia's most valuable start-ups.

Over the years,  Grab has expanded from ride hailing  to food delivery and even to payments (GrabPay). They have expanded rapidly over the years but it remains to be seen whether the various business ventures are profitable. 

Just shortly after Covid 19, when its ride hailing business took a hit, its food delivery business saw increased volumes.  However, that seemed to increase the rate of their cash burn as food delivery was not too profitable a business to be in. 

Both Grab and Gojek refused to comment on the speculation though it was also reported that Grab's CEO Mr Anthony Tan had said in an internal note that they were in a good position to acquire.

Grab's last big acquisition was when it bought over Uber's Southeast Asia business with Uber taking a 27.5% stake in Grab. SoftBank was an investor in both Grab and Uber. 

With any merger,  Comfortdelgro might end up the loser as it has been facing intense competition ever since Grab began its operations.  

Apple Maps Car Spotted Today in Singapore

Was walking along the road today when I saw a Apple Maps car (white in colour) driving about.  

Interesting.  

Didn't know that Apple had a car like this similar to Google.  

In any case, read up a bit and realised that Apple has also come up with a 3D streetview concept like Google Maps called Look Around.  

Though I haven't noticed such a feature on my iPhone yet.  So perhaps it is still being rolled out in phases.