Singaporeans go bargain hunting in Malaysia as ringgit weakens

Singapore's surging currency is contributing to massive traffic jams on the road to Malaysia.

新加坡货币飙升导致通往马来西亚的道路上出现大规模交通拥堵。

Keen to take advantage of a record high exchange rate, Singaporean bargain hunters are streaming into the neighboring nation to snap up goods and take advantage of more reasonably priced entertainment and services like health care.

热衷于利用创纪录的高汇率的新加坡人正涌入邻国抢购商品，并利用价格更合理的娱乐和医疗保健等服务。

The result is snarl-ups of up to four hours at border checkpoints between the city state and Malaysia’s southern state of Johor. In normal circumstances, the journey takes only 20 minutes.

结果是在城市州和马来西亚南部柔佛州之间的边境检查站长达四个小时的咆哮。在正常情况下，车程只需 20 分钟。

It’s gotten so bad that Singapore’s Immigration & Checkpoints Authority issues regular congestion updates on the radio and advised people to cancel travel plans during recent holidays. Frustrated travellers have taken to social media, recording road rage incidents — including a woman pulling off another car’s license plate — while others are making Tiktok videos about the wait at immigration.

情况变得如此糟糕，以至于新加坡移民与关卡局在电台定期发布拥堵更新，并建议人们在最近的假期取消旅行计划。沮丧的旅行者已经在社交媒体上记录了路怒事件——包括一名妇女从另一辆车的车牌上拔下车牌——而其他人则在制作关于移民等待的 Tiktok 视频。

Still, Susan Lim, a 68-year-old homemaker, was more than willing to put up with these inconveniences when she needed wisdom tooth surgery. She chose a dentist in Johor and paid RM700 rather than the more than S$400 (RM1,285) it would have cost in Singapore.

尽管如此，68 岁的家庭主妇 Susan Lim 在需要进行智齿手术时还是非常愿意忍受这些不便。她在柔佛州选择了一位牙医，并支付了 700 令吉，而不是新加坡的 400 多新元（1,285 令吉）。

“I treat it as a short getaway from the city state, with great food and services like a haircut at a much affordable price,” she said.

她说：“我将其视为远离城市国家的短暂假期，提供美味的食物和服务，例如以实惠的价格理发。”

Record high exchange rate 创纪录的高汇率

Singapore is a 280 sq m (725 sq km) island trading hub located off the southern tip of Malaysia. Many residents in the heavily-urbanised city state make frequent trips across the border to Johor, where attractions include laid-back cafes and reasonably-priced restaurants, Desaru’s beaches, village resorts and theme parks like Legoland.

新加坡是一个 280 平方米（725 平方公里）的岛屿贸易中心，位于马来西亚南端。这个高度城市化的城市国家的许多居民经常穿越边境前往柔佛州，那里的景点包括悠闲的咖啡馆和价格合理的餐厅、迪沙鲁的海滩、乡村度假村和乐高乐园等主题公园。

Singaporeans are well versed at hopping over to Malaysia to take advantage of cheaper goods and services — in 2015 demand was so great that money changers at times ran out of ringgit. Fuelling the current craze for all things Malaysian, is the strength of the Singapore dollar, which has risen more than 5% against the Malaysian ringgit this year, closing at a record RM3.2473 on 11th August. The previous record was 3.1681 in March 2017.

新加坡人非常擅长跳槽到马来西亚以利用更便宜的商品和服务——2015 年的需求如此之大，以至于货币兑换商有时会用完马币。新加坡元的强势助长了当前对马来西亚所有事物的热潮，新加坡元兑马来西亚林吉特今年已上涨超过 5%，于 8 月 11 日收于创纪录的 3.2473 令吉。之前的纪录是 2017 年 3 月的 3.1681 .

The Singapore dollar is benefiting from the differing monetary policies the two nations are using to counter inflation. Singapore’s central bank, which uses foreign exchange as its main policy tool, has focused on efforts to strengthen its currency. In comparison, its palm-oil rich neighbour has kept its policy accommodative.

新加坡元受益于两国用于应对通货膨胀的不同货币政策。以外汇为主要政策工具的新加坡中央银行一直致力于强化其货币。相比之下，其棕榈油资源丰富的邻国则保持政策宽松。

Malaysia is not alone in seeing its weak currency act as a draw for tourists — Buenos Aires in Argentina last year designed a campaign to lure visitors with its favourable exchange rates, while American travellers have this summer taken advantage of the dollar’s strength making trips abroad more affordable.

马来西亚并不是唯一一个看到其疲软的货币对游客产生吸引力的国家——阿根廷的布宜诺斯艾利斯去年设计了一项活动，以优惠的汇率吸引游客，而美国游客今年夏天利用美元的强势增加出国旅行负担得起。

Massive traffic jam大堵车

Singapore’s strong exchange rate has coincided with a post-Covid travel boom — spending on foreign travel from residents in the city state rose 240% in the second quarter year on year — and grinding infrastructure problems. The combination has caused one big traffic jam.

新加坡强劲的汇率恰逢新冠疫情后的旅游热潮——该城邦居民的出国旅游支出在第二季度同比增长了 240%——以及基础设施问题。这种组合造成了一场大的交通拥堵。

The Singapore-Malaysia border checkpoints are among the busiest land crossings in the world, with about 200,000 travellers departing daily before the pandemic. Since borders reopened in April, the traffic flow has been gradually increasing, with number of travellers peaking at 290,000 per day over the last weekend in July.

新加坡-马来西亚边境检查站是世界上最繁忙的陆路过境点之一，在大流行之前每天有大约 200,000 名旅客离开。自 4 月边境重新开放以来，交通流量逐渐增加，7 月最后一个周末的旅客人数达到每天 290,000 人次的高峰。

The volume of people has put pressure on the two nations to alleviate the problems on the road. Currently, there is just one train service connecting Malaysia’s Johor Bahru Sentral station and Woodlands station in Singapore.

人流量大给两国带来了缓解路上问题的压力。目前，只有一班火车服务连接马来西亚的新山中央车站和新加坡的兀兰车站。

A high-speed rail project — the Johor Bahru-Singapore Rapid Transit System — is under construction and should absorb 35% of the congestion. But the train line, which was temporarily suspended in 2019 due to cost concerns, won’t be completed until 2026 at the earliest — two years later than planned.

一个高速铁路项目——柔佛新山-新加坡捷运系统——正在建设中，应该可以缓解 35% 的拥堵。但这条因成本问题于 2019 年暂停的火车线路最早要到 2026 年才能完工——比计划晚了两年。

Aggravating the traffic problems is lengthy upgrade work being carried out on arrival immigration car booths at the Malaysia border.

加剧交通问题的是在马来西亚边境的入境移民汽车亭进行了漫长的升级工作。

Tight control严格控制

The gridlock and chaos at the border is in stark contrast to the steely control Singapore’s government exerts over traffic in the city. In an attempt to stem congestion and pollution, the government restricts the number of cars with a limited quota of permits, making its autos among the most expensive in the world. Pent-up consumer demand and a growing appetite for electric vehicles pushed the price of permits for large cars to a record high in August.

边境的僵局和混乱与新加坡政府对城市交通的严格控制形成鲜明对比。为了遏制交通拥堵和污染，政府以有限的许可证配额限制汽车的数量，使其汽车成为世界上最昂贵的汽车之一。被压抑的消费者需求和对电动汽车日益增长的需求推动大型汽车的许可证价格在 8 月份创下历史新高。

This means, despite packing five million people onto an island half the size of London, Singapore ranked 96 out of 416 cities globally in the TomTom traffic congestion index in 2019. Last year, it was 88th out of 404.

这意味着，尽管有 500 万人聚集在一个只有伦敦一半大小的岛屿上，但在 2019 年的 TomTom 交通拥堵指数中，新加坡在全球 416 个城市中排名第 96 位。去年，它在 404 个城市中排名第 88 位。

The big winners from the increased traffic from Singapore are shops and businesses in Malaysia. The Johor Premium Outlet, one of the Malaysia’s most popular shopping destination due to its proximity to Singapore, has seen a steady flow of Singaporean visitors. And it's not just shops — cross-border taxi services, bridal pre-wedding photo shoots, car washes, hotels, medical services and beauty and massage parlours are experiencing a boom.

新加坡客流量增加的最大赢家是马来西亚的商店和企业。柔佛名牌折扣店是马来西亚最受欢迎的购物目的地之一，因为它靠近新加坡，吸引了源源不断的新加坡游客。不仅仅是商店——跨境出租车服务、新娘婚纱照拍摄、洗车、酒店、医疗服务以及美容和按摩院正在经历繁荣。

“The number of Singaporeans seeking services has reached pre-Covid levels with a spike in the recent weeks,” a spokesperson from Regency Specialist Hospital said.

摄政专科医院的一位发言人说：“最近几周，寻求服务的新加坡人数量已达到新冠疫情之前的水平，并出现了激增。”