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Consumer prices in Singapore fall 0.8 pct in November

Xinhua, December 23, 2015 Adjust font size:

CPI-All Items inflation in Singapore fell 0.8 percent year-on-year in November, said the country's Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in a joint release on Wednesday.

The inflation in November was unchanged from data in October, and this is the 13th straight month that consumer prices have fallen.

Food and services inflation moderated while the decline in private road transport cost declined, said MTI and MAS in the joint release.

Food inflation moderated to 1.6 percent from 1.8 percent in October, on account of a slower rise in the prices of non-cooked food and restaurant meals, according to the release.

Overall services inflation edged down to 0.7 percent from 0.8 percent in October. This mainly reflected the lower cost of healthcare after MediShield Life kicked in in November.

However, holiday travel cost rose at a faster pace, alongside a more moderate decline in air fares, said the two ministries.

Accommodation cost was 3 percent lower in November, similar to the drop in the previous month, reflecting the soft housing rental market.

Private road transport cost fell by 1.7 percent, compared with the 2.3 percent decline in October, which is largely due to higher petrol pump prices compared to a year ago.

Inflation as measured by CPI less imputed rentals on owner-occupied accommodation (CP-ex OOA) dropped 0.1 percent in November, compared to a fall of 0.2 percent in October. This was mainly due to the smaller drop in private road transport cost, according to the release.

MAS Core inflation, which excludes the cost of accommodation and private road transport, came in at 0.2 percent, compared to 0.3 percent in October. This mostly reflected the lower food and services inflation.

Looking ahead, the ministries said external sources of inflation are likely to stay generally benign, given ample supply buffers in major commodity markets and weak global demand conditions.

MTI and MAS also pointed out that oil prices for the whole of 2016 are expected to remain low. While global food commodity prices could face some upward pressures due to the ongoing El Nino phenomenon, the price increases would be tempered by the availability of abundant food stockpiles.

On the domestic front, some wage cost pressures remain, but their pass-through to consumer prices will continue to be constrained by the subdued economic growth environment, added the two ministries.

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, according to the release. And CPI All-Items inflation is projected to average between -0.5 and 0.5 percent in 2016, compared to around -0.5 percent this year. Endit