Yes, your CPF monies are safe as all CPF monies are invested by the CPF Board (CPFB) in Special Singapore Government Securities (SSGS) that are issued and guaranteed by the Singapore Government. This arrangement assures that CPFB will be able to pay its members all their monies when due, and the interest that it commits to pay on CPF accounts.

This is a solid guarantee. The Singapore Government is one of the few remaining triple-A credit-rated governments in the world. To elaborate:

• The Government is in a strong net asset position, i.e. its assets far exceed its liabilities (CPF liabilities in the form of SSGS are a part of these liabilities). The strong net asset position can be seen from the NIRC that is available for spending on the Government Budget. Over the past five years, the NIRC has provided an average revenue stream of about 3.5% of GDP per annum.

• What this means is that even after deducting all the Government's liabilities, the remaining net assets produce significant returns. The NIRC is drawn from returns on assets in excess of the liabilities, and is not the returns on gross assets. Further, as stipulated in the Constitution, the NIRC recorded in the Government Budget only comprises up to 50% of the expected returns on the reserves. The NIRC figures are submitted to the President's Office and audited by the Auditor-General's Office.

• If the Government's assets had not been adequate to meet its liabilities, there would have been no contribution from the investment returns on reserves in the Government Budget.

No CPF monies go towards government spending. Government borrowings from Singapore Government Securities (SGS) and SSGS cannot be used to fund expenditures. Under the Government Securities Act (enacted in 1992), the monies raised from SGS and SSGS cannot be spent.