Fuel & food prices in S'pore to rise, ministerial committee to tackle crisis: Shanmugam

Fuel and food prices in Singapore will be impacted as a result of ongoing tensions in the Middle East, Coordinating Minister for National Security K Shanmugam said during a media doorstop interview on Apr. 4,

However, he added that the Homefront Crisis Ministerial Committee (HCMC) has been activated to address the impact of global supply disruptions and further details will be discussed in parliament next week.

Increased prices as Singapore imports "everything"

Shanmugam said a "significant part" of the world's oil and gas supply has been affected due to the war in Iran and in the Middle East.

He added: "It's not clear when that situation will change, and even when the war stops very soon, doesn't mean supply disruptions will go away."

The home affairs minister also explained that supply disruptions will result in price increases, noting that prices will impact fuel products.

He highlighted that another "obvious area" related will be food, as Singapore imports "everything".

He said that fertiliser prices will increase, and the cost of bringing those food products, including transportation to Singapore will also go up.

Ministerial committee has been "stood up for a few weeks"

Regarding the HCMC, Shanmugam said it has been "stood up for a few weeks".

Shanmugam, who chairs the committee with Deputy Prime Minister Gan Kim Yong as the advisor, will work alongside ministers from various relevant ministries, including the Ministry of Sustainability and Environment, Ministry of Trade and Industry, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Defence, and Home Affairs.

Under the HCMC is the Homefront Crisis Executive Group (HCEG), made up of permanent secretaries and heads of various agencies.

Shanmugam said: "They have also been working for a while, reporting to us. We, in turn, report to cabinet. So work has been going on on these different issues, and next week in oarliament, there'll be a more detailed discussion of this."

He added that the HCMC structure was "set up many, many years ago" and activated during crises.

Prime Minister Lawrence Wong had convened the committee as "there is a crisis on", which requires "coordination across different ministries", Shanmugam added:

"There's impact on the ground, and we will need to deal with it. If the lights go off and you haven't thought about fuel, and you haven't thought about how you're going to keep the electricity going, your businesses going. People, take delivery riders, for example, their costs have gone up. Government is there to deal with these issues."

He also outlined the broad scope of the committee's work and noted that there will be "other implications too", such as diplomatic issues, relationships with other countries, including security issues.

"That's why you have an inter-ministerial committee," he said.

Top photo by Mothership