[SINGAPORE] The Republic's central bank kept monetary policy settings unchanged for the second consecutive time in Tuesday's (Oct 14) quarterly policy meeting, as expected by private-sector economists.

The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it will maintain the prevailing rate of appreciation of the Singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rate (S$NEER) policy band, with no change to its width and the level at which it is centred.

"MAS is in an appropriate position to respond effectively to any risk to medium-term price stability and will continue to closely monitor economic developments amid uncertainties in the external environment," it said.

Tuesday's announcement was in line with economist expectations. In a Reuters poll, 10 of 14 economists thought settings would be unchanged. Similarly, of 11 polled by the Wall Street Journal, nine thought MAS would keep its settings.

For full-year 2025 inflation, MAS maintained its forecasts for both core and headline inflation at 0.5 per cent to 1.5 per cent.

The latest move comes after the central bank similarly kept settings unchanged in July. Prior to that, there were two consecutive rounds of easing in the January and April meetings, where it reduced the slope slightly.

Singapore's core inflation, which excludes accommodation and private transport, eased to 0.3 per cent in August, from 0.5 per cent the month before. Headline inflation similarly slowed to 0.5 per cent, down from 0.6 per cent in July.

In August, the Ministry of Trade and Industry upgraded Singapore's full-year growth forecast range to 1.5 to 2.5 per cent, from 0 to 2 per cent before.

Also released on Tuesday were advance estimates for third quarter growth, which was 2.9 per cent year on year, slowing from 4.5 per cent growth in the previous quarter.