MAS keeps S$ on appreciating path

SINGAPORE's central bank has kept its monetary policy unchanged, keeping the Singapore dollar on a "modest and gradual" appreciating path, with no change to the slope and width of the policy band and the level at which it is centred.

Said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) on Tuesday morning: "The Singapore economy is evolving as envisaged in the January monetary policy statement. GDP is on track to grow at 2-4 per cent in 2015, and there is no change to the forecasts for CPI-All Items inflation and MAS Core Inflation. External price pressures should be contained, while domestic cost pass-through to consumer prices is expected to be moderate this year. Beyond the near term, underlying cost and price pressures could pick up, given the continued tightness in the labour market."

Prior to Tuesday morning's half-yearly monetary policy statement, economists had been split on how the central bank would tweak its Singapore dollar policy - or whether it would even change its stance at all.