Latest news with #PhilipJ.Heijmans
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Singapore sets up task force as trade tensions seen hitting GDP
By Philip J. Heijmans (Bloomberg) – Singapore will set up a task force to address economic uncertainties amid quickly escalating global trade tensions that are likely to undermine this year's growth prospects, Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said, one day before new US tariffs go into effect. 'If the tariffs were truly reciprocal, and if they were meant to target only those with bilateral trade surpluses, then the tariff for Singapore should be zero,' Wong told lawmakers on Tuesday. 'These are not actions one does to a friend.' The task force, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong, will help businesses and workers boost their resilience and adapt to the new economic environment, Wong said. Officials in the Asian financial and trading hub have been sounding the alarm over the slew of reciprocal and retaliatory measures undercutting the global trade regime, warning that the likelihood of a full-blown trade war is growing. Wong said the country's economic growth forecast of 1%-3% for 2025 is likely to be revised lower as a result of the ongoing crisis. 'Singapore may or may not go into recession this year,' Wong said. 'I have no doubt our growth will be significantly impacted.' While the city-state is only subject to the minimum 10% tariff on all exports to the US, among the lowest levels in Southeast Asia, Singapore officials say the real damage may come when nations retaliate. That has already started to happen, with China's defiant response to the US prompting Trump to threaten an additional 50% in tariffs this week if Beijing does not back down. 'If other countries adopt the same approach as the US, the rules-based trading system will unravel,' Wong said. 'This will spell trouble for all nations. But smaller countries like Singapore will face more pressures.' Wong said last week that the US is backing away from the multilateral trading system that it helped build and benefit from. In his speech, he pointed to trade wars in the 1930s that contributed to political instability and eventually helped fuel the Second World War. More stories like this are available on ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
03-04-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Singapore won't retaliate against US tariffs, seeks engagement
By Philip J. Heijmans (Bloomberg) – Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong ruled out any immediate retaliation after the US imposed a 10% baseline global tariff, indicating officials will seek talks over levies which threaten to have a 'significant impact' on the city-state's economy. 'We are naturally disappointed,' Gan, who is also minister for trade and industry, told reporters on Tuesday. He cited the two nations' traditionally close ties, and a longstanding free trade agreement with the US that has mutually benefited both sides. Under the FTA Singapore can take countermeasures, 'however, we have decided not to do so' because retaliatory import duties will just add costs for Singapore, he added. Singapore will be subject to the minimum universal tariff on all exports to the US, though the city was spared the higher levies inflicted on some countries, including a total of 54% on China and 46% on Vietnam. But as an open, trade-oriented financial center, Singapore's likely to also feel an indirect impact, particularly if other countries respond with tariffs of their own. Singapore has to be 'prepared for rough waters ahead,' he said, adding the government will continue to monitor the situation, and – if necessary – 'introduce more measures to help our households and our businesses.' He also said Singapore will have to reassess the outlook for the economy, which was expected to slow even before Trump inflicted the new levies. In February, the city-state forecast growth of 1%-3% this year, down from 4.4% in 2024. 'I'm not saying we will definitely revise it downwards, but I think the situation has turned out to be worse' than we had expected, 'and therefore it is necessary for us to revisit our assumptions,' he said. Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had already set aside nearly S$124 billion ($93 billion) in the 2025 fiscal year for everything from airport upgrades to measures to address rising living costs, including supermarket vouchers and utility rebates. Gan's late afternoon comments came after the Monetary Authority of Singapore said it's assessing the implications for the local economy. MAS 'stands ready to curb excessive volatility' in the local currency, the central bank said. The tariffs on Southeast Asia were more 'draconian' than feared, economist Tamara Mast Henderson wrote in a note for Bloomberg Economics, with Vietnam hit the hardest. 'Growth in Malaysia, Thailand and Singapore – where US exports amount to 8%-12% of GDP – will also get hammered,' she wrote in a note Thursday. More stories like this are available on ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Singapore leader defends election year handouts after criticism
By Philip J. Heijmans (Bloomberg) – Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong defended an election year budget featuring a list of handouts after opposition figures criticised the measures as a short-sighted solution for addressing rising living costs. Speaking to lawmakers in parliament Friday, Wong said that proposed vouchers totalling in the hundreds of dollars for each eligible Singaporean are just one element of the budget, with far more going into training and education programs designed to empower citizens. 'These are temporary help measures,' he said. 'They are not long-term solutions. In fact, they only make up a small part of our overall budget.' Wong came under fire this week from opposition lawmakers who blamed the government for mishandling the economy, including by raising the goods and services tax rate last year to 9% from 8%, a move they said worsened inflation. 'The numerous vouchers will give us help for a little while, but not for long,' opposition leader Pritam Singh told parliament this week, while also accusing the government of 'poor fiscal marksmanship in trying to match Singapore's expenditure needs with revenue.' The debate over the budget comes as Singapore prepares for an election that must be held by November but could come sooner. Wong, who is in his first year as prime minister, is seeking a strong mandate for his ruling party at a time when rising living costs are a pressing concern for many voters even though inflation has generally been slowing since late 2022. Wong's People's Action Party has ruled Singapore since it gained independence in 1965. This month, Wong said the government would spend almost S$124 billion ($92 billion) in the 2025 fiscal year for everything from airport upgrades to vouchers for supermarkets and elder care, according to data released after Wong's budget speech. He attributed Singapore's strong fiscal position to its ability to raise revenues. A survey taken soon after Wong announced the budget showed that a majority of Singapore's residents viewed his measures as inadequate to helping them cope with the rising costs of living. 'Why is there a need to collect so much money when the government's fiscal projections are so unpredictable but somehow always so healthy when elections have to be called,' Singh asked earlier this week. Wong said Friday that the criticism was unfair. 'Look, I know elections are approaching, but this chamber is not an election rally,' he said. 'Let's not get carried away by hyperbole and have a debate based on facts.' More stories like this are available on ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
28-02-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Singapore charges three after probe into Nvidia server fraud
By Gao Yuan and Philip J. Heijmans (Bloomberg) — Singaporean police charged three men for allegedly defrauding an unnamed supplier of computing servers, casting a spotlight on local intermediaries' role in funneling Nvidia Corp. chips around the world. The case centers on whether the trio played a role in misleading the server supplier, including by misrepresenting the actual end-user of the hardware, according to their charge sheets. Two Singaporean men, 41 and 49, were charged for criminal conspiracy to commit fraud, while a Chinese national, 51, was charged for committing a fraud. The case comes weeks after Bloomberg News reported that the US was investigating whether Chinese artificial intelligence sensation DeepSeek had circumvented US chip sanctions with help of third parties in Singapore. Local media including the broadcaster CNA reported that the arrests were linked to the shipment of Nvidia chips to China. The police didn't provide details on the products potentially involved, nor did they name the server computer supplier involved. The Chinese man was charged for making a false representation that a company named Luxuriate Your Life Pte 'would be the end-user of the items,' according to his charge sheet. Such offenses carry a prison sentence of up to 20 years in jail, the police said in a separate statement. The police have also made six other arrests related to its investigation. In total, the police are investigating 22 individuals and companies for suspected involvement in fraud by false representation. Singapore, which has close trade relations with both the US and China, has been caught in the middle of a tech war between the two superpowers. The Trump administration is probing whether Hangzhou-based DeepSeek bought advanced Nvidia chips through third parties in Singapore, by passing US export restrictions on sales of AI training chips to China. A senior Singaporean official said last week that Nvidia chips that have been shipped to the country only accounted for less than 1% of the US giant's revenue, even though the Santa Clara, California-based firm billed more than a fifth of its sales to buyers in the city state. More stories like this are available on ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
Yahoo
17-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Court verdict expected in the lying scandal of Workers' Party chief Pritam Singh
By Philip J. Heijmans (Bloomberg) — A Singapore court is set to rule on Monday (17 Feb) whether opposition leader Pritam Singh lied under oath to a parliament committee in a widely-watched decision coming months ahead of a national election. Singh, 48, who heads the main opposition Workers' Party, faces two charges of lying under oath. The case centers on his testimony to a parliament committee investigating a former lawmaker from his party who lied in parliament about a sexual assault case. Singh pleaded not guilty. Prosecutors have said they are seeking a fine if Singh is convicted. Singapore's law states that a person who has been fined at least $10,000 (US$7,466) is disqualified from being a member of parliament for five years. Each of Singh's charges carry a maximum fine of $7,000, and it isn't immediately clear if there's a risk he will be barred from running in the next election. Still, a conviction and a smaller fine will add unwanted scrutiny to the politician and his party before the vote that's due by November. The verdict on Singh takes place at a politically sensitive time as Lawrence Wong leads the ruling People's Action Party in his first election as prime minister. The PAP suffered its worst-ever electoral showing in 2020 even though it took 83 of the 93 contested seats. Singh was named the leader of the opposition after his party made unprecedented gains by grabbing 10 seats. The Workers' Party has cast itself as a check on the PAP that is grappling with voter concerns over rising living costs. In a speech last month, Singh said at least one-third of elected lawmakers should be from the opposition. Wong, 52, who also serves as finance minister, will deliver a national budget on Tuesday likely to feature cash handouts and refreshed social welfare programs for Singaporeans as he seeks to shore up support. The PAP too has grappled with a series of controversies in the past two years. Two lawmakers unexpectedly resigned over an affair, a former transport minister was sent to jail after pleading guilty to obtaining gifts as a public servant and the son of former premier Goh Chok Tong was among four people charged for false trading offences. For the Workers' Party, its fortunes took a dent after a parliamentary committee stacked with ruling-party officials found in 2022 that Singh told untruths during his testimony in the investigation into his former colleague. Parliament members then referred the case to prosecutors. Singh said this year would be a critical one for his party and the opposition. 'At this stage of Singapore's political development, there is a real risk of a wipeout of elected opposition MPs' in the coming elections, he said in last month's speech. 'Such a development will set back the evolution of a more balanced political system.' More stories like this are available on ©2025 Bloomberg L.P.
