The Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) will continue to sponsor the professorship in economics and finance at the National University of Singapore (NUS) for another five years, starting April 1.

This signals the central bank's "strong support for the programme, which has been successful in facilitating the exchange of research ideas and interests in applied economics and finance in Singapore", MAS said on Wednesday.

The MAS Term Professorship in Economics and Finance was started in 2009 with the aim of strengthening Singapore's financial and economics research infrastructure and contributing to a vibrant research community and culture at local universities.

Selected scholars are appointed jointly as Visiting Professors at the NUS Business School and the Department of Economics in the Faculty of Arts and Social Science.

To date, seven scholars have been named to the role, including Nobel laureate A. Michael Spence, University of California, Berkeley professor and economist Barry Eichengreen, and Harvard University professor Benjamin M. Friedman.

"Since its inception five years ago, the MAS Term Professorship has attracted world-class researchers to Singapore, and has helped to establish stronger ties between academia, industry and the public sector," said MAS deputy managing director Jacqueline Loh in a statement.

"A vibrant research ecosystem supports better-informed decision-making by policymakers and market participants and we see it as an integral element of the financial sector landscape."

NUS provost and deputy president of academic affairs Tan Eng Chye said the university's students and faculty have "benefitted greatly" from this professorship over the last five years.

"The programme has attracted top-caliber scholars from around the world to teach and conduct research here. These collaborative activities in research and education have significantly strengthened the university's expertise in finance and economics and raised our international reputation in these field," he added.