Singapore Deputy Prime Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam will cover the duties of Finance Minister Heng Swee Keat, who underwent surgery on Thursday after suffering a stroke during a Cabinet meeting.
Heng’s treatment helped relieve pressure in his brain from an aneurysm that led him to collapse during the meeting, according to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office late Thursday. The aneurysm, or weakening of a blood vessel, was successfully closed, it said.
Shanmugaratnam, who stepped down as finance minister in October after Heng’s appointment, will assume his duties for now, according to a separate statement from Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong’s office.
Lee has elevated younger faces to key roles in his Cabinet in preparation for a leadership transition in coming years. Heng, 54, presented his first budget in Parliament in March.
A former central bank managing director, he previously held the education portfolio. Before heading the central bank, Heng was a principal private secretary to Lee Kuan Yew, the premier’s father and the country’s first prime minister, who died last year.
“Let’s hope and pray for Heng Swee Keat, who is being treated in hospital after suffering a stroke during Cabinet meeting late this afternoon,” Shanmugaratnam said Thursday on Facebook. “He is one of Singapore’s finest sons, and a leader with much promise.”
Source: Bloomberg
