On Friday, the central bank of Singapore tightened its monetary policy for the first time in six years with the goal of keeping the growth of the city-state at a constant expansion in the year 2018 although the risks are present from a possible escalation of China-U.S. trade spat.
According to the Monetary Authority of Singapore or MAS, it would approve the moderate increase of the slope of the Singapore dollar’s policy band from 0 percent and maintaining the width and midpoint of the band unmoved.
Initial data also suggested on Friday that Singapore’s economy surpassed expectations and grew over the expected mark during the first quarter of the past quarter on a yearly basis amid the ongoing growth within the manufacturing sector.
On Friday, the Ministry of Trade said that Singapore’s economy grew 1.4 percent during the months of January to March on a yearly and seasonally adjusted basis.
Singapore’s gross domestic product was anticipated to have increased 1.0 percent in yearly terms between the months of January to March from the past three months, based on the median forecast of a Reuters poll of economists.
During its fourth quarter, the gross domestic product increased 2.1 percent on a yearly basis from the past quarter. The overall growth for the year of 2018 was recorded at 3.6 percent, making it the largest growth percentage since the year of 2014.
The GDP in the first quarter from a year earlier rose 4.3 percent, meeting expectations in the Reuters poll. During the fourth quarter last year, the country’s economy expanded 3.6 percent.