After a record two years of negative inflation, consumer prices in Singapore finally rose in December last year, with headline inflation coming in at 0.2%.
The rise in the consumer price index was due to a larger increase in private road transport cost, which rose by 1.7% in December following a 0.2% rise in November. The rise was the result of higher petrol prices and car park fees, said the Monetary Authority of Singapore and Ministry of Trade and Industry on Monday, CNA reported.
Services inflation edged up to 1.6% from 1.5% in November, mainly due to a faster pace of increase in holiday expenses, which more than offset the larger contraction in telecommunication services fees.
Food inflation was 2%, unchanged from the previous month. Accommodation costs fell by 3.8% in December, similar to the previous month, reflecting continued softness in the housing rental market, MAS and MTI said.
Overall retail goods inflation eased to 0% in December from 0.2% in November, largely on account of a fall in the prices of personal care products.
December’s increase comes after the headline consumer price index stayed flat in November from a year earlier, coming off a deflationary trend for the first time in two years.
For the whole of 2016, headline inflation came in at -0.5% for the second consecutive year.
Core inflation, which excludes the cost of accommodation and private road transport, was slightly lower at 1.2% compared to 1.3% in November. The decline was mainly due to a fall in retail goods inflation more than offsetting an increase in services inflation, MAS and MTI said.
For the whole of 2016, core inflation rose to 0.9%, from 0.5% the year before.
