Singapore central bank maintained its monetary policy setting and raised its inflation outlook on Thursday.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore said it will maintain the prevailing rate of appreciation of the S$NEER policy band and there will be no change to its width and the level at which it is centered.
The central bank had eased its policy twice last year. Instead of using interest rates, the MAS applies the exchange rate against a basket of currencies within an undisclosed band as its monetary policy tool.
For 2025 as a whole, MAS core inflation was 0.7 percent, which was considerably lower than 2.8 percent in 2024.
The forecasts for MAS core inflation and overall inflation for 2026 were raised to 1.0-2.0 percent from 0.5-1.5 percent estimated in October. On average, core inflation momentum was expected to come in at a pace that was slightly below trend this year.
In the near-term, GDP growth should remain resilient but uncertainties to the outlook remain, the bank noted. For the full year, GDP growth is expected to ease relative to the stronger outturn in 2025, with the positive output gap projected to narrow over the course of the year.
The central bank observed that risks to the growth and inflation outlook are tilted to the upside.