SINGAPORE: Singapore's new finance minister will be Heng Swee Keat, replacing Tharman Shanmugaratnam who will remain deputy prime minister in a new cabinet, the prime minister announced on Monday, just over two weeks after winning a general election.

Heng is currently education minister and was a former managing director of Singapore's central bank.

Shanmugaratnam, an international financial expert who has worked for the International Monetary Fund, will also be the coordinating minister for economic and social policies.

Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong told a news conference the new cabinet would prepare the next team of leaders to be ready to take over from him and his senior colleagues after the next general elections, due within five years.

Lee and his People's Action Party, which has ruled the city-state since its independence in 1965, won a convincing general election victory this month, with 69.9 percent of the vote, the highest win since 2001. -Reuters