IMPORTED NON-LUXURY GOODS (Comparative prices)

Mr Ho See Beng asked the Minister for Finance if he will make a statement on comparative prices of non-luxury goods (including food-stuffs) imported into Singapore from India, China and Japan and those imported from America, the United Kingdom and Germany.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: My difficulty is that I do not know what the hon. Member means by "non-luxury goods", and no doubt his definition, if he attempts it, will differ from mine or anybody else's. We import no less than 1,470 different items from the countries he mentioned, and they are worth $1,521.3 million last year. So I am afraid that unless the hon. Member narrows considerably the scope of his question, I would not know what is the information he is seeking.

Mr Ho See Beng (Bras Basah): Mr Speaker, Sir, I can give an example -for instance, footwear. The footwear we import from China as compared with the footwear we import from the United Kingdom, Germany, or America.

Dr Goh Keng Swee: No doubt, Mr Speaker, Sir, footwear imported from China will be much cheaper than footwear imported from Germany, the United Kingdom or America. But I hope that the hon. Member, as a patriotic citizen of Singapore, will only buy locally-made Singapore footwear.

Mr Tang See Chim: Is the Minister aware that a certain brand of locally-made footwear can be purchased at a cheaper rate from Johore Bahru than from Singapore?

Mr Ho See Beng rose -

Mr Speaker: Mr Tang, I do not think that is a supplementary question. Mr Ho, did you have a further supplementary?

Mr Ho See Beng: No.