Singapore's consumer prices drop 0.8 pct in February

Consumer prices in Singapore dropped 0.8 percent in February on a year-on-year basis, the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) said in a joint release on Wednesday.

The decline, which was due to a steeper fall in the costs of private road transport and accommodation, and came after a 0.6 percent drop in January, was the 16th straight month of fall.

The joint release revealed that private road transport cost fell by 3.9 percent in February, compared to the 1.8 percent drop a month ago, on account of a larger fall in car prices amid weaker Certificate of Entitlement (COE) premiums, as well as a slower pace of increase in petrol pump prices.

Accommodation cost dropped by 3.2 percent following the 3.1 percent decline in the previous month, as the housing rental market continued to soften.

Overall services inflation was 0.5 percent in February, unchanged from a month earlier. While domestic services cost saw a stronger pickup, this was offset by a more moderate increase in holiday expenses.

Food inflation rose to 2.0 percent in February from 1.7 percent in January, driven by a larger increase in the prices of prepared meals, including restaurant, hawker and fast food.

MAS core inflation, which excludes the cost of accommodation and private road transport, edged up to 0.5 percent in February, compared with 0.4 percent a month ago. The increase was mostly on account of the higher food inflation. Endit