CNA – Singapore’s core inflation rose further to 4.8 per cent in July, driven mainly by stronger increases in the prices of food, electricity and gas, official data yesterday showed.
This is higher than the figure of 4.4 per cent in June and surpassed a Reuters forecast of a 4.7 per cent increase.
The last time Singapore reported higher year-on-year growth was in November 2008, when core inflation was 5.5 per cent.
Core inflation excludes accommodation and private transport costs.
The headline consumer price index, or overall inflation, rose to seven per cent year-on-year in July, surpassing the 6.7 per cent reported in June.
“Apart from higher core inflation, both private transport and accommodation inflation also increased in July,” said the Monetary Authority of Singapore (MAS) and the Ministry of Trade and Industry (MTI) in a joint media release.
Overall inflation increased in July, mainly due to higher inflation for food, electricity and gas, as well as accommodation. Food inflation came in higher due to steeper increases in the prices of both food services and non-cooked food, hitting 6.1 per cent in July.
Inflation for electricity and gas rose to 24 per cent in July, compared to 20 per cent in June, on the back of a larger increase in electricity and gas tariffs.
Accommodation inflation also picked up due to a faster pace of increase in housing rents, hitting 4.6 per cent in July.
Services inflation rose to 3.5 per cent in July as the costs of outpatient services, airfares, as well as recreational and cultural services recorded larger increases.
Private transport inflation rose to 22.2 per cent from 21.9 per cent in June due to a stronger pickup in car prices.
Meanwhile, prices of retail and other goods registered a slower pace of increase, coming in at 2.8 per cent in July, as inflation for telecommunication equipment, medicines and health products declined. At the same time, the cost of personal effects fell.
