MAS could further tighten monetary policy in October despite April's double tightening

SINGAPORE'S central bank could make a fourth adjustment to further tighten its monetary policy settings in the next 6 months, economists said, amid persistent inflation through 2022 that the authorities said could trend above the historical average.

This follows the Monetary Authority of Singapore's (MAS) decision on Thursday (Apr 14) to adopt a more hawkish stance to tighten monetary policy in 2 ways - its third move in 6 months - as well as an upward revision to its inflation forecast that economists said is "significant".

MAS will "recentre" the mid-point of the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate (S$NEER) policy band at the prevailing rate as well as "increase slightly" the rate of appreciation of the band. There will be no change to the width of the policy band, according to its monetary policy statement, which is typically published half-yearly.