Archive for March, 2007
COE Prices For Cars Up Sharply After Last Month’s Tumble
SINGAPORE: The premiums for Certificates of Entitlement for cars have more than doubled after last month’s tumble.
In the latest open bidding exercise, COE prices for cars 1,600cc and below rose to $12,602 from $5,200 last month.
For cars above 1,600cc, the premium increased by $7,500 to $13,502.
COE prices for the Open Category also rose, by $1,397 to $13,201.
The premiums for goods vehicles and buses remained unchanged at $1 while those for motorcycles spiked by $63 to $964.
Last month’s low prices did not persuade some people to buy.
“When the COE is higher, I will get back more in the future. So I don’t see there is any difference,” said a potential car buyer.
“When you purchase a car at a higher price, definitely the price will be higher when you resell. So I don’t see a reason why there is a hoo-ha to buy a car when the COE prices are low,” said another.
So some buyers are pragmatic when buying a new car.
But others don’t want to miss out on the chance of a good deal.
In the last bidding round, almost twice the number of bids were received as there were COEs available.
But what caused the drop the last time round?
Edmund Gin, from Cycle & Carriage Automotive, said: “People who come in during that period of time before the COE drop could not have got their car before Chinese New Year. So everybody was thinking, ‘hey, I come into the showroom and I can’t get a car before Chinese New Year, I might as well wait’. The buying power was not there. So that has actually caused the COE to come down to $5,000 level.”
And next month, the start of the new financial year will reveal the new COE quotas - which in turn will determine the general price of COEs.
Edmund said: “General feel is based on the scrapping of cars. Over the last one year, it has reduced. So the number of cars on the road has been kept at a certain level. So we should foresee less COEs being made available.”
With the latest increases in COE premiums, the prices of most cars in Category A (1,600cc and below) should go up $1,000 to $2,000, while those in Category B (above 1,600cc) will rise some $1,000. - CNA/ir
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More Are Spending Money And Time To Learn Foreign Languages
SINGAPORE: More Singaporeans are taking up foreign languages and it is not just because they are preparing for a career overseas.
Twice a week, Noorhannah Noorfuad attends Arabic classes at the Jamiyah Business School.
Noorhannah represents one of a growing number of students showing interest in the language.
“I’ve gone to Middle East a few times and I’ve made some friends there. Sometimes when I talk to them, they don’t understand me. By taking Arabic classes, at least I can understand them fully,” said the Secondary 3 student from Tanjong Katong Girls’ School.
This year, 200 people have signed up for Arabic classes at Jamiyah, compared to 50 two years ago.
Homemakers, civil servants, businessmen are just some of the varied professions you will find in an Arabic class.
Azalea Wong, a Chinese student, said: “I like belly dancing. I like Arabic pop songs and I want to know what they are actually singing.”
H M Saleem, Deputy Chairman, Jamiyah Business School, said: “At least 50 percent of our current students are non-Muslims.”
Other language schools also report racially diverse groups of students signing up for languages like Korean, Russian, Thai and Bahasa Indonesia.
As the languages are usually taught by native speakers, some schools said recruiting teachers for languages like Arabic could be challenging.
Finding teachers for languages like Korean, Bahasa Indonesia and Japanese, for example, is comparatively easier because these communities are larger.
Valentine Cawley, Head of Department, Linguaphone Language School, said: “Two years ago, we were carrying just four languages. Now we are teaching over 15 in tutorial classes. I think there has been awareness among Singaporeans that if they are going to communicate with the rest of the world, they do need specific language skills.
“In many of the countries they are going to, the take-up (rate) of English is not as good, and in business, it is best to speak the language of the person you are relating to. It is not only polite, but gives you a better change of signing that contract.”
But foreign language classes do not come cheap. A three-month course will set students back between S$300 and S$500.
The hope among teenage students is that the Education Ministry will offer foreign languages like Arabic in school and this is something the Education Ministry is looking into.
Currently, private language schools are not required to be accredited. Those in the industry said students should do thorough research before signing up for classes in order to ensure the quality of the curriculum.
- CNA/so
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