Singapore to see the direct impact ‘limited’ of US rates: Gan Kim Yong

Singapore probably only see a “limited” direct impact of American tariffs as the country manages a commercial deficit with the United States, said the vice -first minister of the country.

In 2024, The United States had a commercial surplus With Singapore of $ 2.8 billion.

However, Gan Kim Yong, VicePrimer Minister and Minister of the Singapore industry, said the city-state “cannot underestimate” the impact of long-term tariffs.

Speaking in an exclusive interview with CNBC “Squawk Box Asia“Gan stressed that companies could decide to change their production base. In turn, supply chains and commercial patterns will change, causing” greater friction and greater cost “in the global economy that can delay it.

When asked if the tariffs will affect Singapore’s growth projection, Gan said that Singapore does not take their economic prognosis for granted and works continuously to meet, or even overcome, their goal.

“We try to boost the economy a little more and we hope we can perform better than we project,” Gan said, adding that the country will also prepare to give a space, if there were any interruption for the economy. “

Singapore’s economy depends largely on trade, with the country with a GDP trade of more than 300%One of the highest worldwide.

Gan’s comments arrive a day after Singapore prime minister Lawrence Wong announced the Country budget for your fiscal year 2025. It presented a large number of support measures so that homes and companies were dealing with the cost of living pressures, as well as schemes to support the development of local companies.

A remarkable announcement made by Wong in the budget speech was that Singapore would study the Possible deployment of nuclear energy in the countryAfter initially evaluating in 2010 that conventional nuclear energy was not adequate for the city-state.

Gan told CNBC that the main consideration for Singapore was the safety and maturity of nuclear technology, and also pointed out that the size of the small land of Singapore prevents him from having a large security damping zone, such as those of plants traditional nuclear.

The island of 456.3 square miles It is mainly based on liquefied natural gas to feed their energy needs. In 2023, About 95% of its energy generation came from LNG. Most of Singapore’s natural gas comes from Malaysia and Indonesia.

The remaining 5% of the electricity supply is generated by a mixture of coal, oil, solar and waste.

Therefore, Singapore is observing the development of small modular reactors, or SMRs, to assess whether they are suitable for the country.

“Everything depends on the development of technology, for example, how can we market the SMRs to ensure that they are viable and appropriate for us?” Win said.

While it did not specify how long it would happen before Singapore implements nuclear energy, if he did, Gan said: “It will take time for us to be ready for the SMRs when the technology is available,” he said. “Even sites preparation will take time.”