singaporesingapores economic growth should broaden in 2022 and extend to a range of sectors barring any major disruptions to the global economy the monetary authority of singapore said thursday the central bank expects the singapore economy to expand 35 in 2022 in the absence of further disruptions stemming from the russiaukraine conflict or a severe setback in the trajectory of the covid19 pandemic it said in its biannual macroeconomic review the drivers of economic growth should broaden to domesticoriented and travelrelated sectors alongside the substantial easing of pandemicmanagement measures and border restrictions that began at the end of march the mas said strong import cost pressures and tight labor market conditions will keep core inflation significantly above historical levels through 2022 the mas said external inflationary pressures have intensified due to the russiaukraine war and regional covid outbreaks the slack in the domestic labor market has mostly been eliminated and is driving a rebound in resident wage growth the central bank said the confluence of a rise in energy imported inputs and labor costs will result in a buildup in business cost pressures amid stronger consumer demand these accumulating costs are likely to be passed through to consumer prices the mas said core inflation is expected to pick up significantly in the coming months and average 2535 in 2022 with private transport and accommodation inflation staying firm overall inflation is likely to come in higher at between 4555 the mas added the central bank projects that the economy will operate at around its potential output level while core inflation is forecast to stay above its historical average for some time accordingly mas tightened monetary policy further in april by recentering the midpoint of the singapore dollar nominal effective exchange rateknown as sneerpolicy band to its prevailing level near the top of the band and increasing the slope slightly it said that built on previous policy tightening in october 2021 and january 2022 and will help exert a firm dampening effect on persistent sources of inflation over the near and medium terms the mas said