{"id":37375,"date":"2026-03-18T22:57:05","date_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:57:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=37375"},"modified":"2026-03-18T22:57:05","modified_gmt":"2026-03-18T14:57:05","slug":"president-tharman-warns-of-long-storm-of-global-political-instability-as-he-approves-budget-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/?p=37375","title":{"rendered":"President Tharman warns of \u2018long storm of global political instability\u2019 as he approves Budget 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">SINGAPORE &#8211;<!-- --> For every week that the war in the Middle East continues and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/business\/companies-markets\/oil-stays-above-us100-asia-stocks-tumble-as-iran-vows-to-keep-strait-of-hormuz-closed?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">the Strait of Hormuz remains closed,<\/span><\/a> the risk rises of a major downturn in the global economy and of cost-of-living problems everywhere, said President Tharman Shanmugaratnam.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Prolonged fighting will not just result in <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/transport\/across-land-sea-and-air-fuel-price-hikes-drive-up-costs-for-passengers-and-operators-in-spore?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">fuel prices going up and staying high for longer,<\/span><\/a> but also impact food supply and prices, as well as supplies of many other critical commodities that the world depends on, Mr Tharman said as he formally approved the Government\u2019s spending plans for the coming financial year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In social media posts on March 18, the President said the conflict represented \u201ca major new stress point\u201d for the global economy and financial markets, which were already under strain. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/world\/middle-east\/israel-and-us-launch-attack-on-iran-targeting-its-leadership?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">war between the US, Israel and Iran,<\/span><\/a> which is in its third week, has largely halted shipping through the Strait of Hormuz. The waterway between Oman and Iran has been critical to the transportation of about one-fifth of the world\u2019s oil and gas. <\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"President Tharman: We have to brace ourselves for a longer storm of global political instability\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/WRlw7QJpIQk?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">This resulted in the international oil benchmark Brent crude hitting US$119.50 a barrel on March 9 \u2013 its highest since July 2022. Oil prices continue to hover above US$100 a barrel.  <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Yet, these economic problems are not the gravest challenge facing the world, said Mr Tharman, who called on Singaporeans to brace themselves for \u201ca long<!-- --> <!-- -->storm of global political instability\u201d. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">The last few years saw countries increasingly turn to wars and destruction as ways to settle rivalries and differences, with an open disregard for the United Nations Charter, he noted. The UN Charter bans the use of force against the territorial integrity or political independence of any state.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">International humanitarian law, established to protect ordinary people in conflicts, has likewise been ignored, added Mr Tharman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cOne way or another, we are looking at a more fragile world,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">But Singapore has some strategic buffers as it navigates the turbulence as a small nation, said Mr Tharman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Reserves that the Republic has built up will help it deal with major crises, as it has done before. Singapore\u2019s Budgets also enable the country to invest boldly in skills and capabilities, while preserving some finances for future needs, he added. <\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">Singapore is also trusted by countries around the world, and this opens up new opportunities to cooperate for mutual benefit, while diversifying its trade and sources of energy, said Mr Tharman.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">\u201cThat must remain the Singapore way \u2013 always prepared for a world where things may not go as we hope, investing in the future for every Singaporean, contributing our part to the global good, and standing up for what we believe in \u2013 a fair, open and humane world order,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">On March 6, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/politics\/live-mps-to-begin-debate-on-budget-2026?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">Parliament unanimously passed a record $154.7 billion spending plan<\/span><\/a> that includes more support for firms to stay competitive, and a national push to tap the potential of artificial intelligence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"font-body-baseline-regular text-primary\" data-testid=\"article-paragraph-annotation-test-id\">In his <a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/budget-2026-all-the-highlights-you-need-to-know?ref=inline-article\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" class=\"gap-x-04 items-center inline text-primary-60 select-auto\" aria-label=\"link\" target=\"_blank\" data-testid=\"custom-link\"><span class=\"font-body-baseline-regular inline\" data-testid=\"paragraph-test-id\">Budget speech on Feb 12,<\/span><\/a> Prime Minister Lawrence Wong said the Government has a full agenda in this term to refresh Singapore\u2019s strategies to meet the challenges ahead, and that Budget 2026 is the first step in this effort.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.straitstimes.com\/singapore\/politics\/president-tharman-warns-of-longer-storm-of-global-political-instability-as-he-approves-2026-budget\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article At Source <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>SINGAPORE &#8211; For every week that the war in the Middle East continues and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, the risk rises of a&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":37377,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[2611],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37375","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-buzz-headlines","wpcat-2611-id"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37375","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=37375"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37375\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/37377"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=37375"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=37375"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sgbuzz.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=37375"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}