Indian-Origin Leaders Contributing to the City-State's Future

A couple of months have passed since US President Donald Trump introduced substantial changes to the country's import policy, particularly in foreign trade. Trump slapped a 10 percent baseline tariff on all countries, including Singapore. The new tariff rates apply to about 55 percent of Singapore’s domestic exports to the US. While there will be 5 percent product-specific tariffs on steel, aluminum, automobiles, and parts. Nevertheless, the remaining 40 percent of the city-state's exports to the US have been exempted. These include major exports such as semiconductors, other electronics

equipment, pharmaceuticals, energy, copper, lumber and minerals. We will find out soon how long the exem- ptions will last.

In light of these developments, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) slashed its 2025 growth forecast for Singapore and its Asian neighbors. According to IMF, "the outlook has dimmed amid US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs and his escalating trade war with China." In the aftermath of its latest update to its World Economic Outlook report, IMF anticipates that the pace of Singapore’s economic growth will drop to 2 percent in 2025 from 4.4 percent achieved in 2024. IMF’s previous forecast for Singapore’s growth this year in October 2024 was 2.5 percent. However, there is an air of optimism prevailing in the city-state as business leaders in the country believe in achieving growth beyond these numbers. This includes a huge number of Indian-origin leaders across sectors like finance, real estate, healthcare, and technology. In this special yearly issue, we explore the stories of some of the stellar Indian leaders in Singapore. Do let us know your thoughts.