Singapore, which had a record first-half expansion, said economic activity would probably remain at “high levels” for the rest of the year, adding pressure on business costs and spurring inflation.
Growth is supported by a broad range of industries that will remain “largely intact” this year, the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in its annual report yesterday. The central bank said it would issue as much as S$20 billion (US$15 billion) in bills starting next year as a new instrument in money-market operations to help lenders manage liquidity.
“For Singapore, the underlying support for growth for the rest of 2010 is expected to remain largely intact and economic activity is likely to be sustained at high levels,” the central bank said in the report. “However, if the crisis in Europe worsens, financial contagion spreads and the functioning of the international credit markets becomes impaired, downside risks to global growth could intensify.”
The MAS has for three decades used the currency rather than a benchmark interest rate as its main tool for managing inflation. At its April monetary policy review, the central bank said it would shift the Singapore dollar to a stronger range to trade in and allow a gradual appreciation.
While inflation is forecast to pick up toward the latter part of the year, “at this stage, we assess that the current monetary policy stance of a modest and gradual appreciation” of the currency band remains appropriate, MAS Managing Director Heng Swee Keat (王瑞傑) said.
The central bank predicts inflation will probably average between 2.5 percent and 3.5 percent this year.
Singapore’s inflation is likely to accelerate and policy makers should stay vigilant on the outlook for growth and prices, which may require the “further calibration” of monetary policy, the IMF said on Friday last week. In its annual assessment of the country’s economy, the IMF said the Singapore dollar appeared “somewhat weaker” than its medium-term equilibrium level.
The government expects the Southeast Asian island’s economy to expand 13 percent to 15 percent this year. Growth accelerated to 18.1 percent in the first half, the fastest pace since records began in 1975.
“The strong pace of growth seen in the first half of this year is not expected to be sustained,” Heng said. “Growth is likely to have peaked at the middle of this year, and will moderate to a more sustainable rate, as external demand slows after the post-crisis bounce from stimulus measures and inventory effects wane worldwide.”
The government is aiming to recruit 1,096 foreign English teachers and teaching assistants this year, the Ministry of Education said yesterday. The foreign teachers would work closely with elementary and junior-high instructors to create and teach courses, ministry official Tsai Yi-ching (蔡宜靜) said. Together, they would create an immersive language environment, helping to motivate students while enhancing the skills of local teachers, she said. The ministry has since 2021 been recruiting foreign teachers through the Taiwan Foreign English Teacher Program, which offers placement, salary, housing and other benefits to eligible foreign teachers. Two centers serving northern and southern Taiwan assist in recruiting and training
WIDE NET: Health officials said they are considering all possibilities, such as bongkrekic acid, while the city mayor said they have not ruled out the possibility of a malicious act of poisoning Two people who dined at a restaurant in Taipei’s Far Eastern Department Store Xinyi A13 last week have died, while four are in intensive care, the Taipei Department of Health said yesterday. All of the outlets of Malaysian vegetarian restaurant franchise Polam Kopitiam have been ordered to close pending an investigation after 11 people became ill due to suspected food poisoning, city officials told a news conference in Taipei. The first fatality, a 39-year-old man who ate at the restaurant on Friday last week, died of kidney failure two days later at the city’s Mackay Memorial Hospital. A 66-year-old man who dined
RESTAURANT POISONING? Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang at a press conference last night said this was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan An autopsy discovered bongkrekic acid in a specimen collected from a person who died from food poisoning after dining at the Malaysian restaurant chain Polam Kopitiam, the Ministry of Health and Welfare said at a news conference last night. It was the first time bongkrekic acid was detected in Taiwan, Deputy Minister of Health and Welfare Victor Wang (王必勝) said. The testing conducted by forensic specialists at National Taiwan University was facilitated after a hospital voluntarily offered standard samples it had in stock that are required to test for bongkrekic acid, he said. Wang told the news conference that testing would continue despite
‘CARRIER KILLERS’: The Tuo Chiang-class corvettes’ stealth capability means they have a radar cross-section as small as the size of a fishing boat, an analyst said President Tsai Ing-wen (蔡英文) yesterday presided over a ceremony at Yilan County’s Suao Harbor (蘇澳港), where the navy took delivery of two indigenous Tuo Chiang-class corvettes. The corvettes, An Chiang (安江) and Wan Chiang (萬江), along with the introduction of the coast guard’s third and fourth 4,000-tonne cutters earlier this month, are a testament to Taiwan’s shipbuilding capability and signify the nation’s resolve to defend democracy and freedom, Tsai said. The vessels are also the last two of six Tuo Chiang-class corvettes ordered from Lungteh Shipbuilding Co (龍德造船) by the navy, Tsai said. The first Tuo Chiang-class vessel delivered was Ta Chiang (塔江)