RJC_Econs_2008 H1 Prelims P1_final_

Raffles Junior College JC2 Preliminary Examinations 2008 ECONOMICS Higher 1 8816/01 Paper 1 15 September 2008 3 hours Additional Materials: Answer Booklet/Paper READ THESE INSTRUCTIONS FIRST Write your name, index number and CT class on all the work you hand in. Write in dark blue or black pen on both sides of the paper. You may use a soft pencil for diagrams, graphs or roug h working. Do not use staples, paper clips, highlighters, glue or correction fluid. Section A Answer all questions. Section B Answer one question. Start each question on a fresh sheet of paper. At the end of the examination, securely fasten your work to each question separately . The number of marks is given in brackets [ ] at the end of each question or part question. For Section A, you are advised to spend several minutes per question reading through the data before you begin writing your answers. This document consists of 8 printed pages. JC2Prelims 8816_01 © RJC 2008 [Turn over R a f f l e s R a f f l e s R a f f l e s R a f f l e s J u n i o r J u n i o r J u n i o r J u n i o r C o l l e g e C o l l e g e C o l l e g e C o l l e g e Developing the Thinker, Leader & Pioneer

2 8816/01/S/08 © RJC 2008 Section A Answer all questions in this section. Question 1: Oil Prices and Government Policies Extract 1: What’s Driving up Oil Prices? There are a variety of factors that have facilitate d the run-up of oil prices to US$140 a barrel in the last couple of months, including insufficien t investments in exploration and refining activities, soaring energy demand from Asia and a l ong list of supply disruptions. These factors have left the global oil industry with very little capacity to increase oil supplies. Source: The Business Times , 26 June 2008 Table 1: Comparing Retail Oil Prices (US$ per litre) Singapore $1.54 Thailand $1.22 India $1.19 Vietnam $0.90 Malaysia $0.59 China $0.72 Indonesia $0.64 UK $2.29 Belgium $2.34 Netherlands $2.63 Source: June 2008, EIA & Reuters Figure 1: Oil Prices (£ per barrel) Figure 2: Who Gets What from a Litre of Oil in the G7 in 2007? Source:http://www.opec.org/ [Turn over

3 8816/01/S/08 © RJC 2008 Extract 2: Cheaper Petrol Prices in Malaysia Thousands of Thais and Singaporeans cross the borde rs daily to fill their tanks and take advantage of subsidised fuel, which is expected to cost the government RM56billion (S$23billion) this year. Mr Abdul Wahid Bidin, acting president of the Petro leum Dealers Association of Malaysia, said 90% of the usual customers of some fuel statio ns near the northern border were from Thailand. Regular petrol in Malaysia costs RM1.92 a litre, cheaper than the 31.59 baht (S$1.32) in Thailand and S$2.10 in Singapore. Source: The Straits Times , 3 June 2008 Ex