SINGAPORE: Singapore’s consumer price index fell to 0.5% in June, from 1.4% in the prior month, due to sharply lower housing maintenance and repairs inflation, the ministry of trade and industry and the Monetary Authority of Singapore said on Monday. Their statement specifically pointed to the timing effect of the disbursement of service and conservancy charges rebates. The rebates, which lower the housing maintenance and repair cost component of CPI, were paid out in May last year, and in April this year, CNA reported.
Private road transport inflation slowed to 3% in June from 6.1% in the previous month on account of a drop in car prices and smaller petrol price increases. Food inflation eased to 1.4% in June from 1.5% in May, as the rate of increase in the prices of non-cooked food items moderated. Prepared meal prices, meanwhile, continued to rise at a stable pace. Services inflation edged down to 1.3% in June from 1.4% in May, due to a decline in telecommunications services fees. Core inflation, meanwhile, edged down to 1.5% from 1.6% due to lower services and food inflation.
For 2017, MTI and MAS expects core inflation to average 1-2% compared with 0.9% in 2016, while CPI is projected to rise to 0.5 to 1.5% from -0.5% last year. They said the projected pick-up in inflation can be attributed to “the positive contribution of energy-related components and the impact of administrative price increases, rather than generalized demand-induced price pressures”.
