SINGAPORE, April 14 — Singapore’s central bank maintained its pace of currency appreciation, seeking to curb inflation while supporting growth as the economy expanded less than analysts estimated last quarter.
Gross domestic product rose an annualised 0.1 per cent in the three months through March from the previous quarter, when it expanded 6.1 per cent, the trade ministry said in a statement today.
The median estimate in a Bloomberg News survey of 14 economists was 0.4 per cent. The Monetary Authority of Singapore, which uses the island’s dollar to manage price pressure, said it would maintain a modest and gradual appreciation of the currency.
Exports of the Southeast Asian nation fell 10 months in the year in 2013 as an uneven global recovery weakened demand, and companies are grappling with a labour crunch that has raised wage costs.
The International Monetary Fund this month cut its forecast for worldwide growth in 2014 and urged emerging markets to prepare for flows of capital back to advanced economies.
“They will hold for the rest of the year unless we see a sharp growth slowdown or we see the unemployment rate rise quite sharply,” Michael Wan, a Singapore-based economist at Credit Suisse Group AG, said before the report. “Its constraint to easing is still the tight labour market.”
The Singapore dollar was little changed at S$1.2487 against its US counterpart as of 7.53am local time today. The currency has strengthened more than 1 per cent this year. — Bloomberg
