PM Lee apparently said the following in an interview with Retuers about the level of disclosure of assets GIC is willing to tolerate:
“We do not want to tell people exactly how much we have, so people can take a run on the Singapore dollar.”
Well, uncertainty is indeed a good strategy to fend off speculators. Couple that with a money pact with an oil kingdom, Brunei, it would almost be crazy for anyone to even think of trying a run on the Singapore dollar.
Just as currency speculators are clueless as to how much money the Singapore government has, Singapore citizens are just about as clueless. Of course, the average Singaporean (myself included) does not need the information to go about our daily lives so not knowing the information really doesn’t make much of a difference.
However, for all we know, we could really be engaging in a game of bluff and there is no problem now because no one dares to call the bluff. I hope no one tries to, though. It would be devastating if it was really a bluff all along.