Forecasts for the Singapore dollar change all the time, affected by news events and relative sentiment towards the Singaporean economy. This continually updated article reviews the latest forecasts from banks and FX experts as well as news and recent movements of SGD in the currency markets.
Singapore’s trade-reliant economy is teetering on the brink of a recession as the coronavirus pandemic weakens global trade and consumer spending.
There’s increased chance that the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) could start to push the Singapore dollar lower via direct market interventions (ie the central bank actively buying and selling the Singapore dollar).
The MAS typically announces policy decisions twice a year, around the middle of April and October. There have been, out-of-cycle announcement in the past (January 2015) that can surprise markets.
At the end of March, Singapore's central bank eased its monetary policy, as widely expected, with the city-state's bellwether economy bracing for a deep recession due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The MAS said it would adopt a zero percent per annum rate of appreciation of the policy band starting at the prevailing level, currently slightly below the mid-point of the policy band.
The markets viewed this annoucement as showing the MAS has kept some fire-power in reserve and could intervene again to lower the SGD.
NAB told Bloomberg TV that it sees a recovery in Asian currencies in the 2nd half of the year if the coronavirus comes under control.
Overall, it was a mixed 2019 for the Singapore dollar, with small gains (<2 percent) against the euro and Australian dollar, but small losses against the US dollar and pound.
In 2020 AUD/SGD forecasts are primarily influenced by the perceived relative coronavirus impact on economies and the success of government’s response to the pandemic.
Read more about FX Broker and Bank analysts' predictions for AUD to SGD future trends in our blog article AUD to SGD Forecast Review.