Some Empirical Evidence of Exchange Market Pressure in Singapore

Abstract

This paper examines an intervention index in the foreign exchange market, applying the quarterly data of the Singapore economy during the 1990's. The intervention index measures intervention activity as the proportion of exchange market pressure relieved by exchange market intervention. Singapore is selected because (1) it is a small open economy and consistent with this empirical study, and (2) it has been affected by speculative attacks. The specific interest is the effectiveness of intervention conducted by the Singapore authority to mitigate exchange market pressure. It is concluded that the overall intervention activity is surprisingly successful over the sample period.