Unlike most analysts, Brian Tan, an economist at Nomura in Singapore,.doubts that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will tighten policy next year.
SINGAPORE: Singapore central bank chief warned on Wednesday risks to the global growth outlook have significantly increased from an intensifying international trade row and the rising prospect of a rapid acceleration in inflation.
Yet the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) managing director Ravi Menon said the baseline forecast for Singapore is for the economy to continue expanding and inflation to move up gradually, adding the MAS "does not aim to pre-empt tail risk scenarios."
"Tail risks to global growth have grown significantly over the last six months," Menon told a news conference after the release of the central bank's annual report.
"The world has clearly moved from trade tension to trade conflict. If this escalates into a trade war, all three engines of global growth - manufacturing, trade and investment - will stall."
The comments come in the wake of renewed threats by the U.S. administration against global trade partners and President Donald Trump's warning on Monday to take action against the World Trade Organisation.
In April, Singapore's central bank tightened monetary policy for the first time in six years, tweaking one of three variables in its exchange-rate based model. - Reuters
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