The local mainstream media reported with some fanfare that finance minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam had been appointed to a post in the IMF, in an apparent attempt to whip up national pride. Without prejudice to the very high regard that I have for the Finance Minister, it would appear to me, to put it most charitably, to have been silliness on the part of the mainstream media on a slow news day.
Objectively, looking at the fact that the previous appointment holder of that IMF office was an Egyptian, one can easily infer that the particular post in question is one that is of little practical importance. And this is not a knock on Egypt as a country. The fact is that the IMF is one of the key pillars of the Bretton Wood system set up after World War II to underpin American hegemonic power and the centrality of the US dollar. As such, it is not likely that the Americans would cede any real power in an institution that is central to their system, especially at a time when they perceive that other rising powers such as China and Russia are trying to undermine it.
My hope is that the IMF appointment will not waste too much of the Finance Minister's precious time, given that I see many important challenges facing Singapore which requires all the brains we can get to anticipate and solve.
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