‘Only in SG, everything is the people’s fault…’ — Netizens on ST article that says ‘Consumers are driving inflation in Singapore’

The Straits Times published an article on Tuesday (Nov 1) whose title read “Consumers are driving inflation in Singapore. Here’s why,” sparking many reactions online, as netizens wondered why, they, appear to be responsible for the increase in the price of goods.

The piece said that many Singaporeans “are still out shopping for stuff they can do without” which would extend inflation for at least another year, according to the country’s central bank, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS).

The article, written by ST Senior Correspondent Ovais Subhani, is behind a paywall but has been published in full on at least one affiliate news site.

To sum it up, it says that Singaporeans saved a lot of money during the Covid-19 pandemic, but began spending again after restrictions eased. And while Singaporeans were spending more, businesses that had to cut down on employees during the pandemic struggled to meet the demand.

In it, DBS Bank senior economist Irvin Seah is quoted as saying, “There is a need to keep discretionary spending in check amid high inflation”.

Nevertheless, the title of the piece was enough to generate strong reactions from netizens.

One pointed out that the article, which provided data from SingStat itself, is not at fault, but the “clickbait headline” was misleading.

Even longtime blogger Mr Brown weighed in on Twitter, writing, “Sorry, I don’t have the rest of the article because I didn’t buy an ST subscription. I don’t buy what I don’t need. So that I don’t drive inflation mah.”

/TISG

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