{"id":602829,"date":"2026-04-14T06:11:11","date_gmt":"2026-04-14T06:11:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/602829\/"},"modified":"2026-04-14T06:11:11","modified_gmt":"2026-04-14T06:11:11","slug":"singapore-central-bank-tightens-monetary-policy-as-iran-war-stokes-price-risks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/602829\/","title":{"rendered":"Singapore central bank tightens monetary policy as Iran war stokes price risks"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Monetary Authority of Singapore building in Singapore, on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. The chief of Singapore’s central bank said the city-state is considering new measures that will make it more difficult for retail investors to trade cryptocurrencies at a time when they seem to be “irrationally oblivious” about the risks.<\/p>\n

Wei Leng Tay | Bloomberg | Getty Images<\/p>\n

Singapore’s\u00a0central\u00a0bank\u00a0tightened its\u00a0monetary\u00a0policy\u00a0settings on Tuesday,\u00a0flagging the risk that an\u00a0Iran\u00a0war-fueled energy shock could push up core inflation even as mounting pressure on growth was underscored by a first-quarter economic\u00a0contraction.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0Monetary\u00a0Authority of\u00a0Singapore\u00a0(MAS) said it would\u00a0increase slightly the rate of appreciation of the S$NEER\u00a0policy\u00a0band,\u00a0in line with what most\u00a0analysts polled\u00a0by Reuters had expected. MAS said there would be no change to its width and the level at which it is centered.<\/p>\n

“GDP growth in the\u00a0Singapore\u00a0economy will slow over the course of this year, while the output gap should average around 0%.\u00a0Singapore’s imported energy costs have already risen.\u00a0Prices of a wider range of imported goods and services are expected to increase in the quarters ahead,” the MAS said.<\/p>\n

Of the 13 analysts polled by Reuters ahead of the review, 11 expected the MAS to tighten\u00a0policy\u00a0due to the jump in energy\u00a0prices after the Middle East\u00a0war\u00a0erupted late in February and heightened inflation\u00a0risks. Two\u00a0forecast no change.<\/p>\n

Sheana Yue, Oxford Economics senior economist, said this was “not yet a severe inflation scenario”.<\/p>\n

“The risk is that more persistent cost pressures, particularly via food and wages, could\u00a0warrant further\u00a0policy\u00a0tightening if second-round effects materialize more quickly than expected.”<\/p>\n

GDP weaker than expected<\/p>\n

The decision came at the same time as preliminary government data\u00a0released on Tuesday showed\u00a0the economy grew 4.6% in the first quarter of 2026,\u00a0weaker\u00a0than market expectations\u00a0of a 5.9% pace.<\/p>\n

On a quarter-on-quarter seasonally adjusted basis, GDP contracted 0.3% from the fourth quarter of 2025, according to the advance estimates.<\/p>\n

Core inflation was\u00a01.4% y\/y in February, before the\u00a0war\u00a0in the Middle East began. Inflation data for March is due next week.<\/p>\n

The trade ministry had previously forecast growth this year at 2% to 4%. MAS said this will be updated in May.<\/p>\n

MAS on Tuesday raised core and headline inflation forecasts for 2026 to 1.5%\u20132.5%, from 1.0%\u20132.0% previously.<\/p>\n

“As higher energy costs pass through supply chains worldwide, a broader range of\u00a0Singapore’s import costs will increase,” the\u00a0central\u00a0bank\u00a0said.<\/p>\n

The government has announced a\u00a0support package\u00a0worth almost S$1 billion ($785 million), including cash handouts and fuel vouchers, to counter the economic hit of the\u00a0war.<\/p>\n

The MAS held\u00a0policy\u00a0steady\u00a0at its previous three meetings in January, October and July. It had eased\u00a0policy\u00a0last April.<\/p>\n

Instead of using interest rates,\u00a0Singapore\u00a0manages\u00a0monetary\u00a0policy\u00a0by letting the local dollar rise or fall against the currencies of its main trading partners within an undisclosed trading band, known as the\u00a0Singapore\u00a0dollar nominal effective exchange rate, or S$NEER.<\/p>\n

It adjusts\u00a0policy\u00a0via three levers: the slope, mid-point and width of the\u00a0policy\u00a0band.<\/p>\n

Choose CNBC as your preferred source on Google and never miss a moment from the most trusted name in business news.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Monetary Authority of Singapore building in Singapore, on Wednesday, Oct. 27, 2021. The chief of Singapore’s central…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":602830,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[221201,221202,218326,4989,10068,21453,6826,45,161,49,48,22926,2294,46,4717,135,9316,5897,1259,4990,14829,3849,162926,162925,2059,27132,8767,2163],"class_list":{"0":"post-602829","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-economy","8":"tag-lco26m","9":"tag-lco26u","10":"tag-ng26k","11":"tag-asia-economy","12":"tag-asia-news","13":"tag-association-of-southeast-asian-nations","14":"tag-breaking-news-economy","15":"tag-business","16":"tag-business-news","17":"tag-ca","18":"tag-canada","19":"tag-central-banking","20":"tag-economic-events","21":"tag-economy","22":"tag-energy","23":"tag-inflation","24":"tag-interest-rates","25":"tag-iran","26":"tag-middle-east","27":"tag-monetary-policy","28":"tag-prices","29":"tag-singapore","30":"tag-singapore-dollar","31":"tag-singapore-government","32":"tag-southeast-asia","33":"tag-tehran","34":"tag-war","35":"tag-world-markets"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602829","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=602829"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/602829\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/602830"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=602829"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=602829"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=602829"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}