Why Singapore’s central bank chief Ravi Menon has been airing views on wealth tax, immigration and climate change

Many of the issues he has discussed at a local university think tank have recently been matters of parliamentary debate

Menon’s lectures appear to be laying the groundwork for him to become a key thought leader in Singapore, one analyst said

3-MIN READ3-MIN

Ravi Menon, managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore. Photo: Bloomberg

Published: 8:00pm, 28 Jul 2021Updated: 8:00pm, 28 Jul 2021

In the last few weeks, the managing director of the Monetary Authority of Singapore has gained attention for his personal views on some politically charged topics, echoing a similar evolution among his central banking peers as they address the world beyond money supply.

In a series of recent lectures as a visiting scholar at a local university’s think tank, Ravi Menon has tackled several top issues facing policy makers both in the city state and globally: a possible wealth tax and minimum wage to address inequality, the economic case for foreign labour and immigration, and the need for a higher carbon tax to meet climate change commitments.

It would have seemed unusual during past crises to hear a central bank chief weigh in on prescriptions for such hotbed issues. The pandemic era, however, has prompted central bankers globally to become more vocal on social issues, even embedding climate change mitigation into their missions and expanding their traditional tool kits amid record-low interest rates.

In the aftermath of the global financial crisis, for instance, former Federal Reserve chair Janet Yellen often cited economic mobility as a critical issue, but lamented there was little central bankers could do. Her successor, Jerome Powell, has sharpened the Fed’s focus on the topic, and has spoken extensively on issues like minority unemployment with an eye toward how the Fed can help the government’s goals.

In Menon’s case, he’s careful to emphasise that his four lectures at the Institute of Policy Studies at the National University of Singapore’s Lee Kuan Yew School of Public Policy – the last of which will be Wednesday – reflect his personal views, not that of the MAS or the Singapore government.