Singapore’s consumer price inflation eased more-than-expected in October to the lowest level in four months, data published by the Monetary Authority of Singapore and the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed on Wednesday.
Consumer prices climbed 6.7 percent year-on-year in October, after a 7.5 percent stable rate of increase in September, which was the strongest inflation since June 2008. Economists had forecast inflation to ease to 7.1 percent.
MAS core inflation also moderated to 5.1 percent in October from 5.3 percent in the previous month. It was expected to remain stable at 5.3 percent.
The slowdown in core inflation was driven by smaller increases in the prices of electricity and gas, retail, and other goods and services.
Private transport inflation eased notably to 17.3 percent from 22.3 percent, mainly because of slower increase in car and petrol prices.
Accommodation inflation stood at a stable rate of 4.9 percent in October as the rate of increase in housing rents remained constant.
Services inflation edged lower to 3.9 percent from 4.0 percent, while food inflation increased to 7.1 percent from 6.9 percent.
On a monthly basis, consumer prices dropped 0.4 percent in October, while the core CPI moved up 0.1 percent.
Earlier, the central bank said core inflation will stay elevated over the next few quarters as imported inflation remains significant and a tight labor market supports strong wage increases.
There will be further increases in unit labor costs along with robust wage growth on the domestic front in the near term, and the cost of utilities is likely to remain high.
For 2022 as a whole, CPI-All Items inflation is expected to average around 6.0 percent, and MAS Core Inflation around 4.0 percent.
As a result of the GST increase, headline inflation and core inflation are projected in 2023 to average 5.5-6.5 percent and 3.5-4.5 percent, respectively.
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