Tharman Shanmugaratnam

Tharman Shanmugaratnam is Senior Minister in Singapore, after serving as Deputy Prime Minister for eight years. He is also Coordinating Minister for Social Policies, and advises the Prime Minister on economic policies. In addition, he chairs the National Jobs Council, aimed at rebuilding skills and jobs in the wake of COVID-19. 

Tharman is, concurrently, Chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore.

Internationally, Tharman chairs the Group of Thirty, a global council of economic and financial leaders from the public and private sectors and academia. He led the G20 Eminent Persons Group on Global Financial Governance, which in Oct 2018 proposed reforms in development finance and the international monetary system to advance a new, cooperative international order.  He earlier chaired the International Monetary and Financial Committee (IMFC) for four years; he was its first Asian chair.

He currently also co-chairs the Global Education Forum, and the Advisory Board for the UN’s Human Development Report. He is on the External Advisory Group to the IMF Managing Director, and the World Economic Forum’s Board of Trustees.

Tharman has spent his working life in public service, in roles principally related to economic and social policies. Besides serving as Deputy Prime Minister, he was Minister of Finance for nine years and Minister for Education for five years.

He did his university education at the LSE, University of Cambridge and Harvard University.