Singapore, Japan renew bilateral financial cooperation arrangement

THE Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Bank of Japan, acting as agent for the country's Minister of Finance, on Friday renewed the existing Bilateral Swap Agreement (BSA), which both sides agreed would contribute to financial stability and support growing bilateral economic and trade ties.

The arrangement helps the two countries meet liquidity needs by allowing them to swap their local currencies in exchange for US dollars in times of need.

Under the terms of the agreement, the Republic can swap Singapore dollars for up to US$3 billion or its equivalent in Japanese yen from Japan. Japan can swap Japanese yen for up to US$1 billion from Singapore. This is unchanged from before the renewal.

However, the BSA has been revised to align with recent amendments to the Chiang Mai Initiative Multilateralisation (CMIM) Agreement. This includes the increase in the IMF De-linked Portion - the amount each member may request from the CMIM Agreement when there is no matching IMF-supported programme - from 30 per cent to 40 per cent.