Singapore makes surprise decision to keep monetary policy unchanged

The Reserve Bank of Singapore left monetary policy unchanged on Friday. The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) made a surprise decision not to change its monetary policy after tightening four times last year to rein in inflation that has been running near a 14-year high. The central bank said in a statement that the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate policy band will “maintain the current appreciation rate.” The central bank said it expects core inflation in Singapore to remain elevated over the next few months and gradually decline in the second half of the year. According to preliminary estimates, Singapore’s Ministry of Trade and Industry said gross domestic product grew by 0.1 percent annually in the first quarter of 2023. That was down from 2.1 percent growth in the previous period and also below economists’ expectations of 0.6 percent growth from a year earlier. The economy shrank by 0.7 percent quarter-on-quarter.