Singapore Central Bank Eases Policy

Singapore’s central bank surprised markets with a between-meeting easing amid nearly non-existent inflation, sending the city-state’s currency sharply lower.

“With material downward revision to the inflation outlook, MAS (Monetary Authority of Singapore) saw cause for preemptive action,” Mizuho Bank said in a note Wednesday. “On the growth front, MAS also sounded more cautious, pointing to a mixed outlook for the global economy, which is likely to weigh on the export-oriented sectors.”

The MAS, which sets monetary policy via a managed float of its dollar against a trade-weighted basket of currencies, reduced the slope of the Singapore dollar’s appreciation, without waiting for its usual April review or even the U.S. Federal Reserve’s meeting outcome later in the global day. The slope was last flattened in 2011.

CNBC

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