Singapore’s central bank kept its monetary policy unchanged as it cautioned that inflation is set to stay high for at least a few quarters, the Wall Street Journal reported. The decision came as advance estimates for the city-state’s economic growth in the first quarter missed expectations, but not enough to cause much concern among analysts. After standing pat for a fourth straight time, the Monetary Authority of Singapore said Friday that the current settings are needed “to keep a restraining effect” on imported inflation and domestic price pressures.
Read more
The Singapore International Commercial Court (SICC) has handed down its first insolvency-related ruling, JDSupra reported. The court granted recognition and full force and effect to Indonesia's flagship airline's restructuring plan. That plan had been approved in accordance with Indonesian law. In granting recognition to the Indonesian plan under Singapore's version of the UNCITRAL Model Law on Cross-Border Insolvency, the SICC overruled objections to recognition from aircraft lessors.
Electric van leasing company EVCo has been put under insolvent liquidation, with debts of almost $50 million, the Straits Times reported. EVCo, also known as Strides DST, is 60 per cent owned by transport operator SMRT’s business arm Strides Holdings and 40 per cent by Dishangtie Green Technology (Hong Kong). The two-year-old firm was incorporated in March 2022 with a paid-up capital of $10 million.
Read more
Singapore’s non-oil domestic exports fell unexpectedly in February, but economists still see encouraging signs of a better trade outlook ahead, the Wall Street Journal reported. The 0.1% on-year drop in exports last month was driven mainly by a decline in shipments of non-electronic goods, data from Enterprise Singapore showed Monday. That compared with a revised 16.7% expansion in January. Non-electronics exports declined 1.5% on year in February, compared with January’s revised 21.1% expansion.
Read more
Minister Says Singapore’s Debt Situation ‘Manageable’; Bankruptcy, Winding-Up Below Pre-Covid Levels
Singapore’s overall debt situation remains manageable thus far, with both individual bankruptcy and corporate winding-up orders below pre-pandemic levels, said Minister of State for Trade and Industry Alvin Tan in Parliament on Wednesday, the Business Times reported. He was responding to Member of Parliament Yip Hon Weng, who asked if the government was concerned about individual bankruptcy applications reaching an 18-year high, and increased corporate insolvencies in 2023.
Read more
Singapore’s central bank kept its monetary policy settings unchanged for a third straight time amid expectations for inflation to ease only later this year — a decision that suggests any easing could be farther down the road, Bloomberg News reported. The Monetary Authority of Singapore, which uses the exchange rate as its main policy tool rather than interest rates, maintained the slope, width, and center of the currency band, it said in a statement Monday. The move will keep the local dollar on an appreciating path to blunt imported price gains.
Read more
Terraform Labs, the company behind the stablecoin TerraUSD, which collapsed and roiled cryptocurrency markets in 2022, filed for chapter 11 protection, according to court papers filed on Sunday, Reuters reported. Singapore-based Terraform Labs, in a filing with the bankruptcy court in Delaware, listed assets and liabilities in the range of $100-$500 million.
Terraform Labs said it would meet all financial obligations to employees and vendors during the Chapter 11 case without requiring additional financing. It also plans to continue Web3 offerings expansion.
Read more
Singapore's economy grew 2.8% in the fourth quarter year-on-year, preliminary government data showed on Tuesday, faster than some economists expected and helped by improvements in construction and manufacturing, Reuters reported. The fourth quarter growth in gross domestic product (GDP) was faster than the 1% expansion in the third quarter of 2023. For the full year of 2023, Singapore's economy grew 1.2%, moderating from the 3.6% growth in 2022.
Read more
He may be headed to prison next year after pleading guilty to U.S. criminal charges in November, yet 2023 held a silver lining for former Binance Holdings Ltd. Chief Executive Officer Changpeng Zhao: His estimated wealth ballooned by almost $25 billion this year, Bloomberg News reported. Toward the end of a year when Bitcoin rebounded more than 160% following a market collapse in 2022, Zhao tops a list of crypto entrepreneurs who saw their estimated net worth surge in 2023, according to the Bloomberg Billionaires Index. Coinbase Global Inc.
Read more
The founders of a failed crypto hedge fund have been hit with a billion-dollar asset freeze, the Wall Street Journal reported. Su Zhu and Kyle Davies, who ran collapsed crypto hedge fund Three Arrows Capital, have been ordered by a British Virgin Islands court not to sell assets worth $1.144 billion, according to Teneo, the liquidator of the fund. The order also names Kelly Chen, Davies's wife. It is the latest effort by Teneo to seize assets from Zhu and Davies after the failure of Three Arrows, which made the duo deeply controversial figures in crypto.