Singapore Dollar Likely to Slide to Levels Seen After 2008 Crisis, Says Policy Sage
- Central bank set to lower center of band, NatWest’s Singh says
- Options traders have grown more bearish on Singapore’s dollar
The Singapore dollar is likely to slide to levels seen in the aftermath of the global financial crisis as the Monetary Authority of Singapore resumes easing policy in April. So says an analyst who’s correctly predicted the last three central bank decisions.
The authority, which uses the currency as a tool to manage the economy rather than interest rates, is set to lower the center of the band within which it steers the local dollar as Singapore’s export-driven economy feels more pain from China’s slowdown in 2017, according to Vaninder Singh, an economist at NatWest Markets, part of Royal Bank of Scotland Group Plc. The currency is set to weaken past S$1.45 against the greenback within the next six months, Singh said, a level last seen in August 2009.