HAPPENINGS AT STI
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| 𝗙𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗿𝗶𝘀𝗸𝘀 𝗰𝗮𝗻 𝗯𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝘇𝗲𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲, 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗼𝗳𝘁𝗲𝗻 𝗹𝗲𝗮𝗱 𝘁𝗼 𝘂𝗻𝗱𝗲𝘀𝗶𝗿𝗮𝗯𝗹𝗲 𝗳𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗰𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗲𝗻𝗰𝗲𝘀. Thirty officials from ministries of finance, economic development and planning, treasuries, central banks, and a financial comptroller general office from 20 Asia and Pacific countries learned about key institutions that help governments better assess and manage fiscal risks. The course focused on analytical tools to implement a fiscal risk management framework. Participants comments: "Fiscal tools and fiscal transparency are really helpful to improve fiscal risk management." "Developing a Fiscal Risk Statement was my main takeaway for this course and I am very happy to implement this in my country." "The FRAT (fiscal risk analysis tool) session is the most interesting one for me because it helps me to identify which type of information I need to obtain in order to have at least a qualitative analysis." "All the sessions are helpful, especially the tools which can be used to prioritize risks into those that require mitigation." (June 7, 2024) |
| 𝗦𝗶𝗻𝗴𝗮𝗽𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗦𝗲𝗺𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗿 𝗦𝗲𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀: 𝗖𝘆𝗯𝗲𝗿 𝗥𝗶𝘀𝗸 — 𝗔 𝗚𝗿𝗼𝘄𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗖𝗼𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝗻 𝗳𝗼𝗿 𝗠𝗮𝗰𝗿𝗼𝗳𝗶𝗻𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗶𝗮𝗹 𝗦𝘁𝗮𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗶𝘁𝘆 Ms. Mahvash S. Qureshi, Assistant Director in the IMF’s Monetary and Capital Markets (MCM) Department and head of the Global Financial Stability Analysis Division, and Mr. Tomohiro Tsuruga, Senior Financial Sector Expert, presented the findings of the IMF’s latest Global Financial Stability Report (GFSR, https://www.imf.org/en/Publications/GFSR) regarding the threat to macrofinancial stability posed by cyber risk. The seminar was hybrid – both in-person and online. Mr. Aleš Bulíř, STI’s Deputy Director, gave opening remarks, and Ms. Natalia Novikova, the IMF’s Resident Representative in Singapore, moderated the Q&A session. As Mahvash and Tomohiro showed, malicious cyber incidents are rising across the globe, with a notable expansion in cyber extortion causing increasing financial loses. The audience raised many interesting questions, such as the role of state actors in the attacks and the possible impact of generative AI in cyberspace. We thank the speakers and participants and hope to see you in one of our next seminars! A recording of the seminar is available here: Recoding (June 11, 2024) |
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| 𝗛𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝘂𝗻𝗰𝗲𝗿𝘁𝗮𝗶𝗻𝘁𝘆 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗵𝗶𝗴𝗵 𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗲𝗹𝘀 𝗼𝗳 𝗱𝗲𝗯𝘁 𝗿𝗲𝗾𝘂𝗶𝗿𝗲 𝗽𝗿𝘂𝗱𝗲𝗻𝘁 𝗳𝗶𝘀𝗰𝗮𝗹 𝗽𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆. Twenty-nine officials from ministries of finance, economic affairs, treasuries, central banks, and an office of the comptroller and auditor general from 18 countries applied key concepts, definitions, and techniques to assess fiscal sustainability using an Excel-based Public Debt Dynamics Tool (DDT). Participants commented: “Fiscal sustainability is a valuable course that enhances the ability to develop MTFF (medium-term fiscal framework) and MTDS (medium-term debt strategy). Moreover, the course helps learners build a reasonable scenario to measure a possible fiscal risk in country.” “The DDT (debt dynamics tool) is a simple tool for producing debt projection in comparison to other tools.” “Learning about how natural disaster and climate change could impact on investments and debt dynamics will be important and give new perspectives to my working unit.” (April 17, 2024) |
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| 𝗧𝗵𝗶𝗿𝘁𝘆-𝗼𝗻𝗲 𝗽𝗮𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗶𝗽𝗮𝗻𝘁𝘀 𝗳𝗿𝗼𝗺 𝟭𝟯 𝗰𝗼𝘂𝗻𝘁𝗿𝗶𝗲𝘀 𝗮𝘁𝘁𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗯𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗱𝗲𝗱 𝗠𝗼𝗱𝗲𝗹-𝗕𝗮𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗣𝗼𝗹𝗶𝗰𝘆 𝗔𝗻𝗮𝗹𝘆𝘀𝗶𝘀 𝗮𝗻𝗱 𝗙𝗼𝗿𝗲𝗰𝗮𝘀𝘁𝗶𝗻𝗴 (𝗠𝗣𝗔𝗙) 𝗖𝗼𝘂𝗿𝘀𝗲. The course provided participants with the tools to conduct monetary policy analysis using a semi-structural New Keynesian model. Participants shared the following comments: • “Highly commend the blended course delivery given the technicality of this topic (Videos were effective to better understanding the topic) • Experienced Counsellers with wealth of experience - knowledgeable of their content theoretical and practical hands on in Eviews • Course material/content was highly relevant - clear and concise and sufficient for this two-weeks of learning” “This course is very relevant for me to apply back in my country. It was well presented and organized from the delivery on online modules to class lectures to workshops. It has really enhanced my knowledge and instilled new skills for me to apply to my country case. I learnt mostly from the workshop on how to operate the QPM model. Also hands-on experience on Matlab was excellent. The lecturers were excellent and knowledgeable in the presentation of the course. This course will definitely lead to generating interest to adopt and operationalize FPAS in PNG.” “In my FPAS work I have always struggled with how to introduce and justify expert judgment in my projections. The course helped me a lot in this regard.” (April 4, 2024) |
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| Thirty officials from statistics offices, central banks, and ministries of economy and finance from 13 Asia and Pacific countries learned about high frequency indicators of economic activity (HFIEA). The focus was on economic growth measured by gross domestic product (GDP), which is widely used by analysts, politicians, media, business community, and public at large as a summary, global indicator of economic activity and welfare. (January 24, 2024) |
Delighted to have hosted the launch event for the IMF Paper on Housing Market Stability and Affordability in Asia-Pacific! DMD Li: House price valuations are stretched in Asia-Pacific and house price cycles are turning. Countries in the region need to deploy multifaceted policies to address stability and affordability issues. Read the paper (link) and watch the replay of our discussion |
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| Excellent discussions with Asian Central Bank Governors, ECB President Lagarde, and Professor Larry Summers on the current economic context and the way forward at the SEACEN-IMF-STI High Level Event in Siem Reap, Cambodia (December 5, 2022) |
| STI Expert Webinar and Remote Training Video Come join us in our COVID-19 expert webinars and remote training! |
| STI Festive Greetings Video Watch a video from the STI and Singapore Resident Representative Office. |
| Fifth STI Directors of Training Meeting (February 28 - March 1, 2019) |
The IMF Book “The ASEAN Way” was launched at a seminar, jointly organized by AMRO, IMF and MAS on 17 Dec. The book analyses the economic and policy transformation of the ASEAN-5 economies (Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand) after the Asian Financial Crisis and how a variety of global risks will continue to test the group and their economic resilience. Shanaka Jayanath Peiris (IMF), Hoe Ee Khor (AMRO), Keen Meng Choy (MAS) and Ramkishen S. Rajan (LKY School of Public Policy) discussed how the ASEAN-5 economies will rise to the challenges ahead which call for upgrading policy and institutional frameworks, exploiting policy synergies and reaping the benefits of regional integration.
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| Seminar and Book Launch (December 17, 2018) |
Participants at the IMF – STI’s Monetary Policy course (Nov 5-16) not only had the chance to simulate policy responses under different monetary policy and exchange rate regimes, they also visited the Singapore Fintech Festival.
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| Participants of the STI Monetary Policy course visit Singapore Fintech Festival (November 12-16, 2018) |
A High-Level Peer-to-Peer Forum for ASEAN Countries, jointly organized by the IMF, Monetary Authority of Singapore and the STI was held in Singapore on July 9-10, 2018, to discuss monetary policy design and implementation. Senior officials and IMF and international experts in attendance at the interactive sessions concluded that upgrades to policy frameworks in Asia are needed to meet current global challenges.
Please see Professor John Taylor’s Keynote Speech → Link
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| Modernizing Monetary Policy Frameworks in ASEAN Countries (July 9-10, 2018) |
