The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) kept the monetary policy unchanged on Friday, but left room to tighten in future because of stronger economic growth.
The MAS referred to its comments in the October 2016 policy statement that "the neutral policy stance would be appropriate for an extended period", but did not say that the outlook remains same going forward.
The MAS, which uses the exchange rate as its main tool, has kept its neutral stance of zero appreciation in the currency unchanged since April 2016.
The central bank expects economic growth to come in at the upper half of the 2 percent to 3 percent forecast range for this year, but expand at a slightly slower pace in 2018.
According to the advance estimates released by the Ministry of Trade and Industry, the Singapore economy grew by 6.3 percent on a quarter-on-quarter seasonally-adjusted annualised basis in the third-quarter, following the 2.4 percent recorded in the second-quarter.
Third-quarter growth was underpinned by the strong expansion in electronics production, reflecting an enduring upturn in global demand for IT products, MAS said in its policy statement.
The MAS expects GDP (gross domestic product) growth to stay "firm" in 2018.
Core inflation, which excludes the costs of private road transport and accommodation, is projected to come in at about 1.5 percent this year and average 1 percent to 2 percent next year, it said. Over the medium term, it's expected to "trend towards but average slightly below 2 percent," the central bank said.
Headline inflation for 2017 is expected to be about 0.5 percent, the MAS said, and stay in the range of zero to one percent in 2018.
