WITH THE ECONOMIC data now clearly pointing to recovery, policy makers are raising the issue of the exit from the ultra-loose monetary and fiscal policies they employed to prevent a major economic depression last year. US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner recently observed that while it was still premature to withdraw policy accommodation, it was not too early to talk about it. In Asia, South Korean Finance Minister Yoon Jeung-hyun has said his country would implement an exit plan only gradually, noting at the same time that countries had to co-operate in doing so. Clearly, as the global economic and policy context changes, Singapore will also have to consider changes to the monetary, fiscal and other policies it undertook in response to the crisis.