MAS sees modest GDP growth, demand-driven price pressures subdued

SINGAPORE (April 27): A slack labour market, falling business rents and weak economic sentiment in Singapore point to restrained inflationary pressures, the country’s central bank said on Thursday as it forecast continued modest and uneven economic growth.

While inflation will rise in 2017 due to higher global oil prices and the impact from administrative steps such as a planned increase in water prices, the pass-through to consumer prices will be limited, the central bank said.

“Continued slack in the labour market, declining business rents, as well as weak economic sentiment, indicate that demand-driven inflationary pressures will be restrained,” the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in its half-yearly macroeconomic review.

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