An example of digital connectivity that addresses both trade finance and food safety is DBS Bank’s partnership with Agrocorp, a Singapore-headquartered agricultural commodity and food solutions provider. They have developed a block chain trade platform that connects 4,500 Australian farmers with Agrocorp’s restaurant and supermarket customers. The platform provides real-time pricing, shared delivery information, and automated trade finance approval. The platform will be extended to include additional source information about the water, fertiliser, and pesticide usage of the commodities traded. This will improve food traceability and food safety. A particularly important dimension of digital connectivity is cross-border data connectivity. Covid-19 has shown that the ability to leverage the cloud to store and access data is critical for business continuity and cyber security, amid travel restrictions and office closures. We need to put in place agreements to enable cross-border data flows in a secure and seamless manner, so that digital transactions can be consummated efficiently. Digital connectivity and trusted data corridors are to the digital economy what free trade agreements were to the traditional economy. Singapore has signed so-called Digital Economy Agreements with Australia, New Zealand, and Chile. These joint commitments provide clarity and certainty to firms moving data across our jurisdictions to support their business operations and risk management. Conclusion Our economies and societies are deeply intertwined: Covid-19 has demonstrated that. 3/4  BIS central bankers' speeches  The way forward should be one of even closer co-operation and deeper integration – keeping global supply chains open and strengthening digital connectivity across nations.

Ravi Menon: Covid-19 - we need more connectivity, not less Keynote speech (via video conference from Singapore) by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at Caixin Summer Summit 2020, 22 June 2020. * * * Distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Thank you for inviting me to the Caixin Summer Summit 2020. COVID-19 has triggered the sharpest contraction in the global economy since the Great Depression of the 1930s. We can expect a gradual recovery from the third quarter onwards as countries re-open their economies. But there is considerable uncertainty about the strength and durability of this recovery. The trajectory of the economy will be largely shaped by the trajectory of the pandemic – which is itself a significant source of uncertainty. The risk of secondary waves of infection is not trivial. Those countries that have put in place strong safe management measures and a robust regime of testing, contact tracing, and swift isolation of infected persons, are more likely to minimise a second outbreak of infections and sustain their economic recovery. China’s experience is encouraging in this regard. It has been taking decisive steps to contain new outbreaks of infection while lifting movement restrictions and restoring economic activity. It is important that as countries seek to contain the pandemic, they do so in a way that does not undermine connectivity among them. Closer integration – through trade and investment – has underpinned the prosperity and poverty reduction we have seen globally since the Second World War.