Tag Archives: Monetary Authority of Singapore

MAS eases monetary policy, to stop Singapore dollar from rising

Posted on 14 Apr 2016 | Comments Off on MAS eases monetary policy, to stop Singapore dollar from rising

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it is setting the rate of appreciation of the Singapore dollar policy band at zero percent in a surprise easing of its monetary policy announced on Thursday (14 April).

“This is not a policy to depreciate the domestic currency,” MAS said, adding that it only removed the modest and gradual appreciation path of the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate (S$NEER) policy band that was in place.

“The width of the policy band and the level at which it is centred will be unchanged,” it added.

The central bank, which uses the Singapore dollar instead of interest rates to guide the economy, manages monetary policy by letting the local currency rise or fall against the currencies of its main trading partners.

After the 6.2 percent expansion recorded in Q4 last year, Singapore’s economy stalled in Q1 and registered a flat growth on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted annualised basis, the advanced estimates by the Ministry of Trade and Industry revealed.

Meanwhile, MAS Core Inflation has also been subdued.

According to MAS, the Singapore economy is “projected to expand at a more modest pace in 2016 than envisaged in the October policy review. MAS Core Inflation should also pick up more gradually over the course of 2016 than previously anticipated, and is now likely to fall below 2 percent on average over the medium term.”

It added that the move to a neutral policy stance of zero percent appreciation follows the measured steps that the central bank has taken to reduce the rate of appreciation of the policy band in January and October 2015 respectively.

“The actual outcome of S$NEER movements over the six months since October 2015 has in fact been a zero percent appreciation compared to the preceding six-month period,” it said. “The cumulative effects of past S$NEER movements and the new policy path will continue to ensure price stability over the medium term,” it added.

Following the announcement, the Singapore dollar weakened 0.9 percent to $1.36 levels to the US dollar—its weakest since March 29. At around 11.22am, the Singdollar was trading at $1.3610 to the greenback from Wednesday’s close of $1.3501.

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Economists cut down forecast for Singapore economy to 1.9%

Posted on 17 Mar 2016 | Comments Off on Economists cut down forecast for Singapore economy to 1.9%

Economists polled by the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) are cutting down their growth forecast for the economy for 2016 from 2.2 percent to 1.9 percent, the central bank’s latest quarterly survey revealed Wednesday (16 March).

“As reflected by the mean probability distribution, the most likely outcome is for the Singapore economy to grow by between 1.0 to 1.9 percent this year, below the 2.0 to 2.9 percent range reported in the last survey,” the MAS said.

Manufacturing is now expected to shrink by 2.7 percent this year, worse than the previous median forecast of a 1.2 percent contraction compared to the same quarter last year, down from 1.8 percent forecast in the previous survey. In addition, economists also forecast a slower growth in the finance and insurance sector at 3.6 percent, compared to 5.9 percent previously.

The survey also showed that economists expect the country’s gross domestic product growth for the first quarter to come in at 1.6 percent.

But analysts expect the GDP to expand by 2.5 percent next year.

“The most likely outcome is for the Singapore economy to grow by 2.0 to 2.9 percent next year,” MAS said.

Meanwhile, in terms of currency, economists expect the Singapore dollar to trade at S$1.45 against the greenback by the end of the year.

The survey conducted by MAS received views from 24 respondents from economists and analysts who closely monitor the Singapore economy.

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