Singapore will likely tighten monetary policy next month and consider further moves later in the year as the Middle East crisis drives up prices in the trade-reliant city state, according to economists.
Malaysia's export value in February rose 10.8% year-on-year to RM130.95bil, official data from the Ministry of Investment, Trade and Industry (Miti) showed today.
The Bank of Japan left interest rates unchanged as widely expected on Thursday, and flagged caution over the inflationary effects of rising energy prices due to the U.S.-Israel war on Iran.
Asian stocks fell on Thursday, with Japan’s benchmark leading losses after the Bank of Japan kept interest rates unchanged and flagged rising uncertainty over inflation as surging oil prices and escalating Middle East conflict clouded the outlook.
U.S. President Donald Trump on Wednesday stateside warned that if Iran continued targeting Qatar’s energy facilities, America would “massively blow up the entirety of the South Pars Gas Field.”
The US central bank held interest rates steady on Wednesday and projected higher inflation, steady unemployment and a single reduction in borrowing costs this year, a path that Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said was subject to unusually high uncertainty as policymakers take stock of the impact of the US and Israeli war with Iran.