Lawrence Wong, Singapore's Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister, has been appointed as the chairman of the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS), effective July 8. Wong will replace Tharman Shanmugaratnam, who is stepping down after a 12-year tenure to run in the upcoming presidential elections. Wong has previously served in various capacities within the MAS, most recently as deputy chairman since June 2021. The new appointment comes amid Singapore grappling with a possible technical recession, as the economy has seen two consecutive quarterly contractions. However, analysts predict that the central bank will not make any immediate changes to its monetary policy despite the economic slowdown.