The swap facility was established with U.S. Federal Reserve Bank in March as part of coordinated central bank actions to ease strains in global USD funding markets as a result of the Covid-19 outbreak.
The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said it will continue to provide U.S. dollars via its MAS USD Facility, following the extension of the $60 billion swap arrangement with the US Federal Reserve through March 31, 2021.
MAS has been allocating USD obtained from the Fed to banks in Singapore through weekly auctions. Since its launch in March, the MAS USD Facility has provided about $22 billion to banks, for use in Singapore and the region, MAS said in the announcement on Thursday.
The extension of the facility will «anchor market confidence and reinforce the stability of the financial system in Singapore,» MAS said, noting that it is maintaining a «high level of SGD and USD liquidity» in the banking system through its daily market operations to ensure that funding to banks remains ample so that they can maintain the flow of credit to businesses and individuals in Singapore and the region amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
