Singapore c.bank suffers S$9.2 bln loss in FY 08/09
Reuters - Thursday, July 16
SINGAPORE, July 16 - Singapore's central bank said on Thursday it posted a net loss of S$9.2 billion ($6.34 billion) in its last financial year that ended March 2009, badly hurt by a decline in global markets.
The loss compared to a profit of S$7.44 billion in the same period a year earlier, the Monetary Authority of Singapore's Managing Director Heng Swee Keat said at a press conference.
"The unprecedented global financial crisis has weighed heavily on financial markets worldwide, leading to severe declines in valuation across many asset classes amidst heightened market volatility," he said.
"MAS' investment were negatively affected by this crisis."
The loss in the last financial year equalled about 3.5 percent of the central bank's average assets, he said.
"With the broad based upturn in financial markets after the close of the financial year, the valuation of MAS' foreign assets has improved and more than half of the losses have been recovered," he said.
(Reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan; writing by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Neil Chatterjee)
Reuters - Thursday, July 16
SINGAPORE, July 16 - Singapore's central bank said on Thursday it posted a net loss of S$9.2 billion ($6.34 billion) in its last financial year that ended March 2009, badly hurt by a decline in global markets.
The loss compared to a profit of S$7.44 billion in the same period a year earlier, the Monetary Authority of Singapore's Managing Director Heng Swee Keat said at a press conference.
"The unprecedented global financial crisis has weighed heavily on financial markets worldwide, leading to severe declines in valuation across many asset classes amidst heightened market volatility," he said.
"MAS' investment were negatively affected by this crisis."
The loss in the last financial year equalled about 3.5 percent of the central bank's average assets, he said.
"With the broad based upturn in financial markets after the close of the financial year, the valuation of MAS' foreign assets has improved and more than half of the losses have been recovered," he said.
(Reporting by Nopporn Wong-Anan; writing by Saeed Azhar; Editing by Neil Chatterjee)
