Associate Professor Ho Kong Chong, emeritus professor of sociology and anthropology from the National University of Singapore, said that low-income families and the elderly will be hardest hit by the secondary impacts of the ongoing global crisis.
“Small businesses (are already saying in the media that) they have to raise prices. We are talking about (an) increase in the electricity bill down the road,” he said.
“You don’t have to drive a car to be impacted. What we see as part of Singapore has always been the worries about rising costs for the poor and for the elderly, (and) this energy shock just accelerates it.”
He also added that the Middle East crisis might increase the number of rough sleepers in Singapore, as well as increase unemployment, as rising prices force more businesses to close.
