{"id":786080,"date":"2026-02-24T15:26:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:26:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/786080\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T15:26:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:26:15","slug":"pritam-singh-presses-for-clarity-on-singapores-public-spending-as-surplus-widens","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/786080\/","title":{"rendered":"Pritam Singh presses for clarity on Singapore\u2019s public spending as surplus widens"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Workers\u2019 Party chief Pritam Singh has called for fuller public disclosure of billions of dollars in <a target=\"_self\" class=\"e1yy41x40 ef9u0v01 css-1ankfgb ecgc78b0\" href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/topics\/singapore?module=inline&amp;pgtype=article\" title=\"\" data-qa=\"BaseLink-renderAnchor-StyledAnchor\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Singapore<\/a> government spending, pressing for clearer accountability at a time he described as \u201cone of the largest fiscal surpluses in decades\u201d.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Speaking in parliament on Tuesday at the start of the budget debate, Singh also took aim at the timing of the last general election, saying it was called shortly after global trade tensions flared.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThe PAP (People\u2019s Action Party) government dissolved parliament just days after the Trump administration\u2019s announcement,\u201d he said, referring to the so-called Liberation Day tariffs unveiled by the United States last year.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cThe political timing of the general elections was calculated to put the PAP in the most advantageous position, with tariff uncertainty serving as a rallying call for voters to back the tried and tested.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">\u201cSince then, however, there has been remarkably little information of the sectoral tariffs and their actual impact on Singapore,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p datatype=\"p\" data-qa=\"Component-Component\" class=\"e8zc9q40 css-1c6uqr6 ec74h0k1\">Despite the \u201cdoom and gloom\u201d surrounding the tariffs then, Singh noted that the government now begins its new term \u201cwith what may be the greatest fiscal surplus any PAP government has seen in decades\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Workers\u2019 Party chief Pritam Singh has called for fuller public disclosure of billions of dollars in Singapore government&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":786081,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3090],"tags":[323,51,228957,228955,228953,1700,228956,16723,137290,228954,29496,20867,2343,2143,16,15,49,20864],"class_list":["post-786080","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-economy","tag-ai","tag-business","tag-cna","tag-community-development-council","tag-economic-strategy-review","tag-economy","tag-forward-singapore","tag-gan-kim-yong","tag-goods-and-services-tax","tag-innovation-and-enterprise","tag-peoples-action-party","tag-pritam-singh","tag-research","tag-singapore","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-united-states","tag-workers-party"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116126311259146648","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786080","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=786080"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/786080\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/786081"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=786080"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=786080"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=786080"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}