LTA announces 42 percent increase in COE quotas for May - July period

Earlier today, the Land Transport Authority (LTA) has announced the COE quotas for the second quarter of 2014 covering from May until July. According to The Straits Times, there will be a 42 percent increase in available Certificate of Entitlement (COE) quotas for cars.

Category A COE quotas - for cars up to 1,600cc displacement and no more than 130bhp power - will get 1,011 COEs per month, a 41 percent increase from the current quota of 717 COEs.

Category B COE quotas for cars above 1,600cc or 130bhp will have 966 COE's monthly - a 38 percent increase in comparison to current quota of 701 COEs.

Category E or Open Category will get a 53 percent increase in COE quotas from the current 382 to 586 COEs monthly. While Cat E COE certificates can be used for any vehicle type, it is traditionally used for bigger cars.

The increase in COE supply echoes the English daily's forecast earlier in the week - tabulated based on the estimated number of cars that were scrapped in the first two months of the year.

In addition, the supply of COEs for commercial vehicles or Category C, will grow by 47 percent to 770 certificates monthly from the current 524.

According to the English daily, on the whole, the monthly supply will increase by 32 percent to 4,019 certificates. However, despite the larger number of available quotas, the COE premiums are not expected to drop down in value drastically, as many have been anticipating for several months, citing ever strong demand.