SINGAPORE: The S$4.2 billion (US$3.1 billion) in reserves accumulated by the Tote Board as at the end of the 2022 financial year enable it to make long-term funding commitments, said the Ministry of Finance (MOF) in response to a committee examining the government’s budget.
According to the Estimates Committee’s fourth report released on Tuesday (Nov 5), the Tote Board’s reserves were the highest among statutory boards not protected by the Reserves Protection Framework, which covers certain statutory boards under Singapore’s Constitution.
The Estimates Committee is tasked to report what economies, improvements in organisation, efficiency or administrative reforms may be effected in the government’s budget. It comprises eight Members of Parliament.
The Tote Board is a statutory board under MOF.
Statutory boards not protected by the Reserves Protection Framework typically maintain an accumulated surplus for capital investment and working capital needs.
They are also expected to explore utilising their surpluses in the first instance before requesting funding from the government.
The Tote Board’s reserves help sustain its capacity to provide grants that uplift vulnerable members of society, said MOF.
“In particular, the reserves enabled (the) Tote Board to offer longer-duration funding commitments with grant awards of up to five years.”
They also ensured that the statutory board could continue to honour grant commitments during periods of economic uncertainty or greater social need, and supplement revenue with investment income, added the ministry.
The Tote Board receives surpluses from Singapore Pools and Singapore Turf Club while also collecting casino entry levies.
According to its website, this money is channelled to support causes in the community.
In response to the committee’s question on whether the Tote Board’s reserves were proportional to its objectives and cash flow for operations, MOF said the Tote Board’s grant commitments as a proportion of its reserves had increased over the past ten years.
This was due to “growing funding demands to strengthen our social compact”, said the ministry.
The statutory board offers eight grants, including the Enhanced Fund-Raising Programme, which provides up to S$250,000 per charity for fund-raising projects.
The Arts Grant, which seeks to foster a vibrant arts culture in schools, is also provided by it.
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According to the report, the Estimates Committee acknowledged the MOF’s explanation regarding the Tote Board’s reserves.
It also urged the government to continue periodic internal reviews on the surpluses of statutory boards and to ensure that their functions were “right-placed”, with resources applied appropriately.
The last review MOF conducted across all statutory board surpluses was in 2022.
Additionally, the committee noted that close to 90 per cent of the 49 statutory boards listed in the Schedule of the Statutory Corporations made contributions to the Consolidated Fund within the past 10 years.
Statutory boards are directed by the government to return funds to the Consolidated Fund to prevent excessive build-up of their surpluses.
In light of the surpluses contributed to the Consolidated Fund, the Estimates Committee “urged the government to review whether there was scope to reduce the fees and charges paid by the public to each of the statutory boards”, said the report.
