Let me share my thoughts and interpretation my research on this topic.
How to distinguish between current and past reserves?
According to this article on Today, 'At the end of each term of government, the accumulated current reserves will be transferred to the Past Reserves'. To verify the quote from Today, I checked MOF's website which states that 'Past Reserves refers to the reserves accumulated during previous terms of Government'.
Current reserves will refer to all budget surpluses accumulated from 2016 to today.
Past reserves will refer to all budget surpluses accumulated from before 2016.
How much current reserves have we accumulated so far?
To get this figure, we will have to sum up the budget surpluses accumulated since the current government's term started. Based on the article on Today, this will refer to Fiscal Years (FY) 2016 to 2020. In actual dates, this also means 1 April 2016 to 31 Mar 2021.
FY 2016 to FY 2018
The surplus for FY 2016 to FY 2018 is available on Singstat, where you can sum the row 'Overall Budget Surplus / Deficit'. The sum is at around $20.2 billion.
FY 2019
The surplus for FY 2019 is available on Singstat only as an estimate, under the row 'Overall Budget Surplus / Deficit'. This figure is a deficit of $1.6 billion. For our purposes, let's use this figure. We can then conclude that the 'current reserves' from FY 2016 to FY 2019 is $18.6 billion.
Balancing The Figures
Back to the question on where do we get the $31 billion? Based on our above numbers, we $18.6 billion can be attributed to our surpluses from FY 2016 to FY 2019.
What about the remaining $12.4 billion? This will have to come from FY2020's expenditure.
Final question - Is the $12.4 billion a realistic figure? Our total estimated expenditure in FY 2019 was $78 billion. $12.4 billion works out to be around 16% of FY 2019's total estimated expenditure. I would say this is a realistic figure which we are able to utilise from FY 2020's revenue.
Disclaimer
The above view is based on my research and I have provided the links wherever possible. If I have made any incorrect interpretations, please let me know and I will correct it ASAP.
Let me share my thoughts and interpretation my research on this topic.
How to distinguish between current and past reserves?
According to this article on Today, 'At the end of each term of government, the accumulated current reserves will be transferred to the Past Reserves'. To verify the quote from Today, I checked MOF's website which states that 'Past Reserves refers to the reserves accumulated during previous terms of Government'.
Current reserves will refer to all budget surpluses accumulated from 2016 to today.
Past reserves will refer to all budget surpluses accumulated from before 2016.
How much current reserves have we accumulated so far?
To get this figure, we will have to sum up the budget surpluses accumulated since the current government's term started. Based on the article on Today, this will refer to Fiscal Years (FY) 2016 to 2020. In actual dates, this also means 1 April 2016 to 31 Mar 2021.
FY 2016 to FY 2018
The surplus for FY 2016 to FY 2018 is available on Singstat, where you can sum the row 'Overall Budget Surplus / Deficit'. The sum is at around $20.2 billion.
FY 2019
The surplus for FY 2019 is available on Singstat only as an estimate, under the row 'Overall Budget Surplus / Deficit'. This figure is a deficit of $1.6 billion. For our purposes, let's use this figure. We can then conclude that the 'current reserves' from FY 2016 to FY 2019 is $18.6 billion.
Balancing The Figures
Back to the question on where do we get the $31 billion? Based on our above numbers, we $18.6 billion can be attributed to our surpluses from FY 2016 to FY 2019.
What about the remaining $12.4 billion? This will have to come from FY2020's expenditure.
Final question - Is the $12.4 billion a realistic figure? Our total estimated expenditure in FY 2019 was $78 billion. $12.4 billion works out to be around 16% of FY 2019's total estimated expenditure. I would say this is a realistic figure which we are able to utilise from FY 2020's revenue.
Disclaimer
The above view is based on my research and I have provided the links wherever possible. If I have made any incorrect interpretations, please let me know and I will correct it ASAP.