An insight into Singapore Monetary Policy 2009
Singapore, is an island city-state located at the southern tip of the Malay Peninsula. Singapore is a microstate and the smallest nation in Southeast Asia. Since independence, Singapore's standard of living has risen dramatically. Foreign direct investment and a state-led drive to industrialization based on plans drawn up by the Dutch economist Albert Winsemius have created a modern economy focused on industry, education and urban planning. Singapore is the 5th wealthiest country in the world in terms of GDP (PPP) per capita. In December 2008, the foreign exchange reserves of this small island nation stood at around US$174.2billion. The Singapore government had for the first time in history tapped into her official reserves and withdrew some S$4.9 billion with the approval of the President. The funds were then used as part of the S$20.5 billion resilience package unveiled by Finance Minister Tharman Shanmugaratnam on 5 February 2009. As of January 2009, Singapore's official reserve stood at US$170.3 billion.
In the month of May, this year, Singapore's central bank, adjusted the trading range for its currency and said that the monetary policy remains appropriate amid signs the economy may be past the deepest part of the nation's recession. The city state is not expected to have a “sharp rebound” in growth, Monetary Authority of Singapore Managing Director Heng Swee Keat said in an interview today. It's “still too early” to predict if the economy will grow in 2010, he said. The worst global recession since World War II has led to an 11-month slump in Singapore exports, forcing companies including Chartered Semiconductor Manufacturing Ltd. to fire workers and prompting authorities to cut taxes and subsidize jobs. The government expects the economy to shrink between 6 percent and 9 percent in 2009, the most since independence in 1965.
The International Monetary Fund predicts the Singapore economy will shrink 10 percent this year and post a 0.1 percent contraction in 2010, according to a report today. The island's exports rose 10.8 percent in March from the previous month, suggesting the worst may be over.
Singapore's gross domestic product has shrunk 11.7 percent since the first three months of 2008, according to the central bank. Industrial production fell the most in at least 13 years in March, and exports dropped 17 percent from a year earlier. The central bank said last month it would adjust the trading range for the island's dollar; a move economists say effectively devalued the exchange rate. Still, the depreciation was less than what traders were expecting, prompting Heng to say April 18 those who expected more were wrong because there was no reason for “any undue weakening.”
The nation's monetary policy doesn't respond to short-term economic data and is based on the medium-term outlook for inflation and growth, Heng said today. The central bank expects consumer prices to hold steady or fall 1 percent this year. Inflation slowed to the lowest in 21 months in March.
For more information on different industries of Singapore kindly look at the links given below
http://www.bharatbook.com/Market-Research-Reports/Automotives-Report-Singapore.html
http://www.bharatbook.com/Market-Research-Reports/Baby-Drinks-in-Singapore-to-2011.html
http://www.bharatbook.com/Market-Research-Reports/Baby-Personal-Care-in-Singapore-to-2012.html