$8.5b in GST collected by S'pore Customs in 2024; rise in tobacco and liquor offences

Singapore Customs collected $8.5 billion in goods and services tax (GST) in 2024, an increase of more than $1 billion from the year before.

- David Sun

This is the highest amount of GST collected by the agency to date, based on statistics from the open government data portal Data.gov.sg, which tracked the figure from 2013 onwards.

That year, Singapore Customs collected $5.5 billion in GST. A decade on, when the GST rate increased in 2023, it collected $7.2 billion.

Of the amount collected from GST, almost all of it was from imported goods, with less than 1 per cent from locally manufactured goods subjected to excise duty.

Singapore collected a total of $20.6 billion in GST in 2024, with the Ministry of Finance saying this was due to stronger-than-expected growth in private consumption.

The GST rate was increased from 7 per cent to 8 per cent in 2023, and then to 9 per cent in 2024.

The Government has said the revenue from the increase will go towards meeting Singapore's medium-term needs, such as in healthcare and social spending.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong, who is also the Finance Minister, said there will be no need for further increases in GST up to 2030.