•  Singapore’s total market capitalisation has grown by over 150% in the last decade, to 270 billion US dollars in 2011. We are the fourth largest foreign exchange trading centre in the world. •  FX and FX derivatives turnover in Singapore has more than tripled in the last decade, with an average daily traded volume of about 360 billion US dollars. We are Asia’s leading commodity derivatives trading hub. •  Most of the major global banks have their regional hubs in Singapore. •  According to some estimates, Singapore accounts for more than half of Asia’s OTC commodity derivatives trades. To succeed in the new financial landscape, Singapore must comprehensively support Asia’s long-term financing needs. Let me highlight two strategic areas where we will harness our diverse financial ecosystem: debt capital market and infrastructure financing. Debt capital market In a world of deleveraging and higher regulatory constraints on banks, it is now more urgent than ever to develop strong capital markets to complement bank lending and help to provide a better match for longer term funding requirements. 4  BIS central bankers’ speeches  The fundamentals for a strong debt capital market are in place. •  The Singapore bond market is fully accessible to all issuers and investors globally with no capital controls, hedging restrictions, or withholding taxes. •  There is diversity of issuers – financial institutions, corporations and government agencies. •  There is variety in instruments issued, including structured and securitised debt.
Real GDP growth in Cyprus expanded by about 6 percent over 2022H1, mainly driven by a faster than expected recovery in tourismrelated activities and, to a lesser extent, by growth in information and communication activities and in professional services. At the same time, weakness in the Cyprus GDP performance could be expected to become visible over 2022H2 and 2023, primarily owing to the anticipated worsening in the international environment outlook. More specifically, the impact of the war is expected to be channelled directly, via the disruption in trade of services and the rise in commodity prices, in particular oil and wheat, as well as indirectly, via the impact on business and consumer confidence. Our exposure to Russia via the export of services side is the most significant vulnerability, with the most important exposure relating to financial and other business services and, to a lesser extent, tourism, transport as well as telecommunications, computer and information services. At the same time, it is important to mention significant adaptation effects for example in the area of tourism, losses from the Russian market have been covered to a large extent by other markets such as the UK, Poland, Germany, Israel and Scandinavian countries. The labour market has also been exhibiting continued resilience. Over 2022H1, the unemployment rate reached 6,7 percent, well below the 7,5 percent rate recorded in 2021. The resilience of the Cyprus labour market is in line with business views about expecting a relatively small impact from the war.