Ravi Menon: Singapore as convenor, catalyst and contributor for climate action Speech by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at the launch of the COP-27 Singapore Pavilion, Sharm El-Sheikh, 6 November 2022. *** Ladies and gentlemen, good evening. Welcome to the launch of the Singapore Pavilion at COP27. As we gather in beautiful Sharm El-Sheikh, let us remind ourselves of the task before us: to reduce global greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2050 in an orderly and inclusive way. Singapore is committed to the net-zero by 2050 target and has laid out our plans and strategies to get there. This Pavilion is not just about Singapore's plans to get to net-zero. After all, Singapore's contribution to global emissions is just 0.1%. But as a global city, technology hub, and financial centre, we can play a larger role in the fight against climate change. Singapore wants to be a convenor, a catalyst, and a contributor of solutions for global climate action. This is the broader purpose of this Pavilion. As a convenor, we will bring together partners in industry, finance, academia, civil society and the government, to spark new ideas and forge new collaborations for effective climate action. As a catalyst, we will work with partners to step up the pace of transition in this critical decade, which will substantially determine whether the world gets to netzero by 2050.
The policy consensus that has emerged from this experience has a more cautious view of the benefits of financial integration, a greater awareness of the damage caused by creating incentives that distort the composition of flows and a greater appreciation of the importance of having in place a strong set of institutions, in the financial system in particular. It has also fostered a greater skepticism within governments of their ability to sustain and adjust a set of limited controls on capital flows, once an economy has passed a certain point of relative openness. Money tends to move around these controls with progressive ease, and it becomes more difficult over time to counteract this force with acceptable costs to other objectives. For this basic reason, many emerging market governments that were early proponents of selective controls have moved to eliminate them. Faced with the challenges of managing policy in an increasingly integrated world economy, the dominant instinct of officials is often to try to shield the economy from volatility. But the crises of the 1990s helped demonstrate why this approach can be both futile and counterproductive. As economies become more open to capital flows, policies designed to insulate an economy from external shocks, whether they be fixed exchange rate regimes or selective capital controls and restrictions on international transactions, rarely offer durable stability, and they bring additional risks. These risks come in the form of additional distortions that might undermine future growth or magnify vulnerability to future financial volatility.