Monday, August 11, 2008

A Little Bit of Hope

When we first bought our car three years ago, the dollar was buying $1.64 Sing dollars, and gas (or petrol if you're here) was selling for $1.42 a liter. If this is the first "the price of gas in Singapore" post you're reading, remember to convert liters to gallons, then Sing dollars to US dollars. I know - too much work. Let me do it for you and say it was roughly $3.40 US a gallon.

Fast forward three years. The US dollar has fallen like the kid who burst out of the starting blocks at the beginning of the 800 meter race and is now stumbling along, heaving, while other kids cruise past him laughing. It reached a buying low of only $1.30 Sing this summer, while gas shot up to $2.10 a liter. You don't have to do the math to know this hurts, but let's do it anyway. That's $6.46 a gallon. Thankfully there are discount cards, but they still wind up making us pay at least $5.80.

But there is a ray of hope. Yesterday the posted exchange rate at Mustafa was $1.40. I saw gas at $1.86 a liter. Erik saw it for less. And the peasants rejoiced.

No comments: