Singapore’s fiscal chiefs pledged $6.4 billion in dedicated support for the economy on Tuesday, underscoring the level of concern among policy makers about the threat posed by the virus. The city state has more than 80 confirmed cases of the coronavirus and its trade-dependent economy is particularly vulnerable.
(Feb 19): Singapore’s currency may tumble to the lowest level since 2017 if the central bank responds as strongly to the spread of the coronavirus as it did to the SARS epidemic two decades ago.
That’s the view of Tan Teck Leng, a macro strategist at UBS Group AG’s Global Wealth Management Chief Investment Office, who thinks the Monetary Authority of Singapore could re-centre its policy band for the currency lower. It took this rare action in 2003 to deal with the fallout from SARS and doing so again could see the local dollar dip through 1.40 versus the greenback, according to Tan.
