The three-month Singapore interbank offered rate (SIBOR) stood at 0.830 percent on Monday, remaining at the same range from two weeks ago when it fell almost 20 percent from this year’s high of 1.027 recorded on 9 April.
Meanwhile, the six-month SIBOR also registered a drop of almost 18 percent to 0.890 percent from its year-high of 1.083 percent.
SIBOR is the interest rate at which banks loan to one another and is also the rate at which most home loans are pegged at.
The key benchmark rate was seen inching up to around 0.4 percent for most of last year to 0.45 percent on 2 January due to the weakness of the Sing dollar.
Separately, the three-month and six-month swap offer rates (SOR) also posted declines. In the latest fixings, the three-month SOR stood at 0.848 percent, down 25 percent from its year-high recorded on 23 March at 1.132 percent, while the six-month SOR fell almost 22 percent from its year-high on 24 March at 1.294. SOR is commonly used to measure the cost of commercial loans. It is based on the foreign exchange rate with the US dollar.
Despite the declines, analysts had earlier said that relief may be temporary as the US dollar continues to rally against the local currency and with US interest rates expected to rise in the second half of the year. When US interest rates rise, local rates including the SIBOR and SOR are also expected to rise.
Nikki De Guzman, Editor at CommercialGuru, wrote this story. To contact her about this or other stories email nikki@propertyguru.com.sg
