Singapore’s consumer prices declined as expected in September, figures from the Ministry of Trade and Industry showed Friday.
The consumer price index dropped 0.6 percent year-over-year in September, slower than August’s 0.8 percent decrease. The figure was also matched with consensus estimate.
In July, prices had fallen 0.4 percent. Consumer prices have been falling since November last year.
Private road transport cost slid 3.2 percent annually in September, which was worse than the 2.9 percent drop in the prior month.
Food inflation eased marginally to 1.8 percent in September from 1.9 percent a month ago, as the increase in the cost of prepared meals moderated slightly.
At the same time, services inflation rose to 0.8 percent in September from 0.5 percent in August. This mainly reflected the rise in health care services fees and public road transport cost,
The MAS core inflation, which excludes the costs of accommodation and private road transport, accelerated to 0.6 percent from 0.2 percent in the preceding month, reflecting the stronger pickup in the prices of services and retail items.
Month-on-month, consumer prices showed no variations in September, after a 0.1 percent slight increase in the previous month.
MAS Core Inflation is expected to pick up gradually over the course of 2016 towards its historical average as the disinflationary effects of lower oil prices, as well as budgetary and other one-off measures dissipate, the ministry said.
For the full year, MAS Core Inflation is expected to come in at 0.5 to 1.5 percent in 2016, compared to around 0.5 percent in 2015. CPI-All Items inflation is projected to average ?0.5 to 0.5 percent in 2016, compared to around ?0.5% this year.
The material has been provided by InstaForex Company – www.instaforex.com