Amid fickle fortunes, Singapore could slip into irrelevance: MAS chief

Singapore

THE managing director of Singapore's central bank Ravi Menon reckons himself to be at the helm of a "schizophrenic" agency, toggling between seeing the opportunities to be seized and fretting over the things that could go wrong.

The city-state should steer clear of a recession if its economy chugs along at the current pace, he said. And the outbreak of Zika is unlikely to have a significant impact on economic growth here, though it is still early days yet, he added.

One fear he has is that Singapore "could easily slip into irrelevance" if it does not innovate or harness technology, given the changes in the global economy, he said at a Foreign Correspondents Association (Singap…