S-E Asia still has room in monetary policy arsenal

Inflation monetary policy

AS countries around the world scramble to enact various forms of expansionary fiscal and monetary policies to alleviate the shock from Covid-19, a key concern arises among economists: can countries afford to pay for these policies?

Among the South-East Asian countries, Singapore is the only one whose fiscal stimulus drew on reserves and not on additional borrowing. Other countries weren’t so fortunate to operate with such a large fiscal policy arsenal, which affects their ability to stimulate the economy.