Singapore's CPI rises 0.5 pct in February

SINGAPORE, March 23 (Xinhua) -- Singapore's Consumer Price Index (CPI) inflation rose to 0.5 percent in February from zero in January, said the Ministry of Trade and Industry and the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) in a joint release on Friday.

Meanwhile, the MAS Core Inflation, which excludes the costs of accommodation and private road transport, rose to 1.7 percent in February from 1.5 percent in the previous month.

The authorities attributed the rise in CPI inflation mainly to a milder decline in the cost of accommodation, and to a lesser extent, a stronger pickup in the prices of services and food, which collectively more than offset the decline in private road transport inflation.

They add that the MAS Core Inflation increase reflected higher services and food inflation.

In a breakdown, Singapore's food inflation rose to 1.5 percent in February from 1.1 percent in January; private road transport inflation declined to 0.6 percent from 1.6 percent; accommodation costs fell by 3.6 percent, moderating from the 5.3 percent drop in the previous month; and services inflation increased to 1.9 percent from 1.3 percent.

Looking forward, Singapore is likely to see mild increase of imported inflation as global demand improves amid ample supply in key commodity markets, said the release.

It forecast that global oil prices are expected to go up only slightly in 2018 compared to 2017. Meanwhile, global food commodity prices are also expected to rise modestly, even as localised shocks in regional supply sources could lead to transitory fluctuations in domestic food prices.

According to the release, Singapore's CPI inflation is expected to stay in the range of 0-1 percent in 2018. The MAS core inflation is likely to be in the 1-2 percent range this year. Enditem