SINGAPORE (Oct 11): Singapore’s central bank will probably refrain from easing policy when it meets this week, saving its ammunition for next year as the city-state’s economic outlook deteriorates. The Singapore dollar tumbled 6.6% last year, its biggest drop since the 1997 Asian financial crisis. The authority guides the Singapore dollar against a basket of currencies and adjusts the pace of appreciation or depreciation by changing the slope, width and center of a band. In an unscheduled statement in January last year, the central bank said it would seek a slower pace of appreciation for the Singapore dollar against its trading basket. The Singapore dollar is set to weaken to S$1.40 at the end of the year on expectation of further stimulus in 2017, he said.

Source: The Edge Markets October 11, 2016 06:00 UTC