Singapore[S$]

Institutional framework 1

The primary objective of Singapore's monetary policy is price stability for sustainable economic growth. Since 1981, Singapore's monetary policy has been centred on the exchange rate. This is because the exchange rate has a much stronger influence on inflation than the interest rate in a small and open economy such as Singapore, where gross exports and imports of goods and services are more than 300 percent of GDP, and almost 40 cents of every dollar spent domestically is on imports.

MAS manages the Singapore dollar against a basket of currencies of Singapore's major trading partners, and maintains it within an undisclosed target band. When necessary, MAS intervenes in the foreign exchange market to maintain the trade-weighted Singapore dollar exchange rate, also known as the SGD nominal effective exchange rate (SDG NEER), within the policy band, to ensure that it remains aligned with domestic price stability.

MAS' monetary policy formulation is undertaken by the Economic Policy Group (EPG). The EPG reviews monetary policy semi-annually (ie April and October), and recommends the appropriate level, slope and width for the exchange rate policy band to ensure consistency with domestic price stability. The review is approved by MAS' Monetary and Investment Policy Meeting. After each review, a Monetary Policy Statement is released, which provides information on the recent movements of the exchange rate and explains the exchange rate policy stance. An accompanying report, the Macroeconomic Review, provides detailed information on the assessment of macroeconomic developments and trends in the Singapore economy, and is aimed at enhancing market and public understanding of the monetary policy decision.

Key features of the monetary policy implementation framework

The Monetary and Domestic Markets Management Department (MDD) is responsible for monetary policy implementation. This includes managing: (i) the exchange rate through intervention in foreign exchange markets when necessary; and (ii) banking system liquidity through money market operations and liquidity facilities.

Intervention operations

MAS conducts foreign exchange intervention operations involving the sale or purchase of USD against the SGD to ensure that the SGD NEER is kept within the policy band, and is consistent with domestic price stability. The SGD-USD intervention is the preferred operation since this is by far the most liquid SGD currency pair traded.

Money market operations

Given Singapore's open capital markets and the exchange rate-centred monetary policy, interest rates in Singapore are largely determined by global interest rates and market expectations of the SGD exchange rate. Accordingly, MAS' liquidity management framework aims to ensure that there is an appropriate amount of liquidity in the banking system to meet banks' demand for precautionary, reserve and settlement balances, and in the process moderate excessive interest rate volatility.

Banks in Singapore maintain cash balances in their current accounts with MAS, and are required to maintain a Minimum Cash Balance (MCB) of 3% of their qualifying liabilities (two-week average computed with a two-week lag) on a two-week-average basis. Over the course of a business day, banks are allowed to utilise the full amount of their cash balances to settle payment obligations. However, they are required to maintain cash balances of at least 2% of their qualifying liabilities by the close of the business day. While the MCB requirement forms a base demand for cash balances, the total demand for reserves could vary across periods as banks may hold excess cash balances for other purposes such as settlement purposes.

MAS carries out money market operations every morning at about 9.45am. Money market operations are carried out exclusively with Primary Dealers in recognition of their role as specialist intermediaries in the Singapore Government Securities (SGS) and money markets. The instruments used are: (i) direct borrowing; (ii) foreign exchange swaps; (iii) repurchase agreements (repos) on SGS; and (iv) MAS Bills and 6-month Treasury Bills.

Liquidity facilities 2

MAS operates two liquidity facilities, the Intraday Liquidity Facility (ILF) and the Standing Facility (SF). While MAS conducts daily money market operations to manage the liquidity of the overall banking system, the liquidity facilities allow eligible financial institutions to fine-tune their intra-day liquidity as necessary. These liquidity backstops reduce volatility in overnight interest rates, and anchor market confidence that temporary shortfall in liquidity needs would be met.

The Intraday Liquidity Facility allows eligible counterparties 3 to obtain Singapore dollar funds on an intraday basis through repo transactions using SGS and MAS Bills. The facility is open from 9am to 5pm.

The Standing Facility allows eligible counterparties 4 to borrow Singapore dollar funds on an overnight and collateralised basis (from 5pm to 6.45pm), or deposit Singapore dollar funds on an overnight basis (from 6.00pm to 6.45pm).

Emergency Liquidity Assistance (ELA) 5

In extraordinary situations where financial institutions (FIs) come under liquidity stress, MAS is empowered by the Monetary Authority of Singapore Act to provide loans or advances to FIs to safeguard the stability of, or public confidence in, the financial system. MAS views ELA as the provision of short-term backstop SGD liquidity to address idiosyncratic or system-wide liquidity stress in extraordinary situations.

MAS expects to provide ELA to banks via two modes: (i) Market-wide ELA provision (this can take the form of a liquidity facility with standardised terms of access to address a sudden and system-wide seizing-up of funding markets); and (ii) Bespoke ELA provision (this relates to loans extended to one or a few domestic systemically important banks (D-SIBs) facing institution-specific liquidity stress.