Singapore’s consumer price index in August is expected to have declined from a year earlier for the 10th straight month, a Reuters poll showed on Monday, weighed down by lower COE prices and falls in housing costs. The all-items consumer price index was forecast to be down 0.5% on a year-on-year basis, according to the median pick in a Reuters poll of 12 economists. In July, headline CPI fell 0.4%. The poll also projected the central bank’s core inflation measure would rise 0.4% from a year earlier, steady from July’s pace. Core inflation–the focus of the Monetary Authority of Singapore’s policy–excludes changes in the prices of certificates of entitlement and accommodation. Annual headline CPI has been falling since last November, pressured by a slide in global oil prices as well as declining housing rents and private road transport costs. Some economists see an increasing chance of a technical recession and more monetary easing next month, after data last month showed Singapore’s industrial production in July shrank more than expected from a year earlier.
