Halister News

(Bloomberg) -- Deputy Prime Minister and MAS Chairman Tharman Shanmugaratnam’s comments on growth outlook appear to be a downgrade, Citi economist Wei Zheng Kit writes in note received today.

• Compares Shanmugaratnam’s remarks with comment from MAS Managing Director Menon in July that economy’s 2H performance “will not be too different” from 1H and MAS’ Recent Economic Developments report in Sept. that “modest growth trajectory” is expected
• Key risk to Citi’s call for no MAS policy change would be a significant downgrade of growth outlook beyond expectations in September’s Recent Economic Developments report; this risk may be closer to materializing
• If 2016 growth was seen to fall below 1%, Citi would tilt toward re-centering as its base case
• USD/SGD up 0.2% to 1.3612
• NOTE: Economic growth for 2016 will be at lower end of govt’s forecast of 1% to to 2% and a “tough” period will last for a while, Shanmugaratnam said, according to Business Times newspaper; also said normal growth is 2% to 3%