Singapore's richest get slightly less rich but more billionaires minted

SINGAPORE'S 50 wealthiest persons are slightly less rich in 2015 as the property market has slowed down, the Singapore dollar weakened and the stock market remains lacklustre.

However, the number of billionaires still went up from 26 last year to 28 this year, Forbes said in a press release on Thursday.

Robert and Philip Ng have managed to retain their spot at the top of the Forbes Singapore Rich List. The brothers, whose family controls Singapore real estate developer Far East Organization and Hong Kong's Sino Group, have a combined net worth of US$8.7 billion as at July 2015.

That is a 32 per cent drop from their combined worth of US$12.8 billion in July 2014, according to figures from the Forbes website.

City Developments' Kwek Leng Beng is again in second place, with a net worth of US$7.2 billion - down 7.7 per cent from US$7.8 billion last year.

The year's biggest gainer is paint tycoon Goh Cheng Liang, who moved up four spots to No 3 after his stake in Japan's Nippon Paint surged 62 per cent in the past year. His net worth is US$6.9 billion, more than double the US$3.2 billion in July 2014.