to address. we have not flinched from imposing high prudential standards – sometimes above international norms – but have always consulted industry actively to make sure that the prudential outcomes that we want are achieved at minimal compliance cost. likewise, we have worked closely with industry to help create a strong financial ecosystem, deepening and broadening our markets, building critical infrastructure, and developing a skilled and competent financial sector workforce. jpm has been an important partner in our journey together to develop singapore as a dynamic and vibrant financial centre. jpm has made material contributions to singapore ’ s financial markets with developments such as the launch of the singapore kilobar gold contract with the sgx in october this year. bis central bankers ’ speeches jpm was one of the lead managers in singapore ’ s first rmb corporate bond issuance earlier this year, which helped to broaden the range of rmb product offerings in the market. on this note, let me congratulate jp morgan on 50 years of growth in and with singapore. mas looks forward to deeper partnership with jp morgan in further developing singapore ’ s financial sector. i am confident that your strong presence in singapore will serve you well as you extend your footprint in asia. thank you for being part of the singapore growth story. bis central bankers ’ speeches

speeches published date : 29 april 2021 " inflation & expectations " - opening remarks by mr edward s robinson, deputy managing director ( economic policy ) & chief economist, monetary authority of singapore, at the seminar on inflation and cost of living in singapore and asia on 29 april 2021 introduction 1. thank you for inviting the mas to join this virtual webinar and live discussion on “ inflation and cost of living ”, a joint initiative of the sim kee boon institute for financial economics, the imf institute and dbs bank. it is encouraging that academia, industry and an intergovernmental organisation have come together on an important issue of common concern. 2. i recall launching the singapore index of inflation expectations or sindex, as it was known then at smu in january 2012, and it is heartening to see it nurtured over the past decade. the mas is grateful to the skbi for its commitment to this project and to dbs for its generous sponsorship of the dbs - skbi - smu singapore index of inflation expectations, that counts among the key indicators that mas looks at in its economic surveillance. 3. my comments are in two parts. first, i will make some broad observations on the somewhat complex inflation dynamics that confront us since the onset of covid - 19. second, i intend to reiterate the important role that expectations play in driving the behaviour of key macroeconomic phenomena, including inflation. this two - part intervention is meant to bridge the interests and inclinations of the various participants at this seminar – industry, academia and policy. understanding recent inflation developments 4. we just released our april monetary policy statement and macroeconomic review, which contain our latest assessment of inflation on the global and domestic fronts. there are distinct peculiarities about the impact of the covid - 19 shock on price adjustments. let me highlight four broad factors pertinent to price developments during the crisis and beyond. 5. first, price adjustments reflected the impact of the government health measures which imposed a sudden stop to a range of contact - intensive activities. this meant that overall, the adjustments in many countries took place mostly through a sharp retraction in “ q ” or the level of activity, rather than “ p ”, or prices. a statistical factor was partly at play here. as activities in some sectors saw near - complete cessation ( for example, recreational services and air travel expenses ), prices in several key consumer services categories were unobservable, such