Singapore's President S R Nathan said the approval process to draw down S$4.9 billion from past reserves was a rigorous one.
Speaking in detail for the first time on Tuesday about his decision to give in-principle approval for the government to tap into past reserves, Mr Nathan said he and the Council of Presidential Advisers recognised the importance of giving full confidence and backing to the Budget measures as a speedy decision was needed to stem the tide of the economic downturn.
Mr Nathan, who is the first Singapore elected president to use the second key to unlock past reserves accumulated by the Singapore government, emphasised that the Constitution does not prescribe the process for dealing with a request for using past reserves.
All it spells out is the need for the president to consult the Council of Presidential Advisers and to publish his view when he approves a draw on past reserves.
"It is not easy to say 'yes' in so far as the withdrawal of the reserves go. There must be compelling reasons why we have to resort to withdrawing from past reserves," the president said.
During the recent Budget debate, several Members of Parliament had expressed the opinion that not many details about the process of unlocking the reserves and the use of the second key by the elected president were given.
Mr Nathan said he and the Council of Presidential Advisers had been kept in the loop about the global and domestic economic situation since the middle of last year.
Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong also discussed the situation with the president informally and sounded him out about the government having to seek his approval to tap on past reserves for some extraordinary measures that were being considered.
The Council of Presidential Advisers convened a meeting the same day when Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam approached the president with information on the Jobs Credit scheme and Special Risk-sharing Initiative.
The president and the council were briefed by the Trade and Industry Ministry and the Monetary Authority of Singapore on the global economic and financial situation, and its potential impact on Singapore.
The Finance Ministry, Accountant-General and Attorney-General's Chambers also briefed them on the Budget strategies and gave them a detailed explanation of the two measures.
President Nathan revealed that Mr Tharman's formal request seeking his in-principle approval to draw on past reserves was made on January 19 – three days before Budget 2009, which was brought forward to January 22 this year.
After going through the proposal the next day, the president said he gave his in-principle approval on January 21.
Mr Nathan said the rapidly deteriorating global economic situation and its adverse impact on Singapore's economy meant that he and his council of advisers had to address the request to use past reserves with urgency.
"In this instance, the process of seeking and securing my in-principle approval took approximately 11 days from the time the matter was first broached. The urgency was quite evident and I think 11 days was reasonable.
"If it had to be, it could have been even shorter. The target was the Budget and that was set. Whatever decision that had to be made, had to be made in time so that it can go into the proposal," he said.
As for his feelings about having used the second key for the first time, Mr Nathan said: "I was hoping not, but the circumstances came and of course it is provided that if and when it comes, an approach will be made to me.
"But I have the advice of the Council of Presidential Advisers, which I have to pay regard to. And we started the process of consulting together and I then left it to them to deliberate on their own and give me their recommendations, which were consistent with what I had felt I should do."
At the end of the day, Mr Nathan said the system was tested and he has responded to the urgency of the situation after clinically examining the government's proposal to use past reserves to battle the economic downturn.
The government has presented the Supply Bill to Mr Nathan for his assent on Monday, according to the government gazette. This assent would formally approve the provision to draw on past reserves.
I was paid $3million a year not to "Micro-manage"
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