Ravi Menon: The wellness of investing - eating well, sleeping well, feeling well Keynote remarks by Mr Ravi Menon, Managing Director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore, at SIAS 1st Master Series Investment Conference, Singapore, 11 July 2019. * * * Mr David Gerald, Founder, President and CEO of Securities Investor Association (Singapore) (SIAS), ladies and gentlemen, good morning. Let me begin by congratulating SIAS on 20 successful years as an effective champion for retail investors in Singapore. You have been an ardent voice for investors – a voice of reason and balance, unwavering in looking out for the interest of investors, but always in a co-operative way with all stakeholders. You have been a strong advocate for good corporate governance – engaging boards to strengthen governance practices, and facilitating a constructive dialogue between investors and listed companies. You have also been a valued partner of MAS. You are a long-standing supporter of MoneySense, the national financial well-being programme, helping us to deliver financial education messages so that investors can make better informed decisions. The journey has not been easy for SIAS. Funding is a perennial challenge. You have had to rely entirely on your own fund-raising efforts and the goodwill of donors and sponsors. This is not ideal from a long term perspective. MAS is willing to support SIAS. We are working closely with SIAS and other stakeholders to come up with viable funding options, to achieve financial sustainability while ensuring SIAS’ credibility as an advocate for investors.
The economic activity slowdown, low main products prices in the world markets, low monetary expansion in the economy and controlled inflationary expectations offset the inflationary pressures coming from exchange rate depreciation during 2009. The upward inflation trend during the last quarter of 2009 was expected by the Bank of Albania. It was formed mostly by transitory factors, which are not expected to generate steady inflationary pressures. In particular, this performance was influenced by rising food prices, which reflect the lagging effect of exchange rate depreciation, international markets conjunctures and structural problems of the Albanian market. These factors are expected to exert inflationary pressures during the first half of 2010, possibly added by expected reduction of agricultural products supply, as a result of the flooding that has lately occurred. However, stable core inflation trend and low inflation rate of non-traded goods confirm that inflationary pressures exerted by domestic demand are moderate. In the absence of other supply shocks, the slow progress of domestic demand, low growth of monetary supply and anchored inflationary expectations, are premises for keeping inflation within the target in the medium run. The Bank of Albania pursued a prudent monetary policy during 2009, creating a suitable environment for a balanced development of the economy and for keeping inflationary pressures under check. In the presence of downward inflationary pressures and steady expectations, the hints for slow domestic demand in the next period have motivated the progressive growth of monetary stimulus during 2009.